Prithee, Fair Botan
by lovelace.shrew
Summary: What happens when our lady Botan tries to be kind to Hiei? Just what sort of relationship could possibly develop between two so different?
1. Was that you?

Chapter 1 - Was that you?

I'm thinking perhaps with every chapter I will suggest songs to go along with it which I feel help convey the atmosphere of the writing. If nothing else, it may create a colorful play list. My first recommendation: Emilie Autumn - Across the Sky. Enjoy : )

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Darkness seemed to cover every inch of the forest floor. Like an ordinary gift of nature, with the passing of sunlight, became a black hole. An evil place. The moonlight barely managed to sneak past a few places in the thick leafy roof. An occasional cool breeze would cause a chorus of rustling which would be the only sound to break up the stagnant atmosphere. The possibility of the emergence of all sorts of undesirable creatures or demons was ever present. However, the demon who wandered through this accursed place was not phased. Small in stature, he was perhaps the worst thing anyone else wandering that forest could have run into. He walked at a slow pace, one arm completely bandaged, his shirt gone, and a very focused expression on his face. He sought the coast. A place where he could think without being disturbed. His previous battle had been hard on his body simply because of the technique of black flame that he had unleashed on his opponent. He concerned himself less with the burns on his arm, and more with matters of the final match. Team Toguro would certainly not be an ordinary match. They seemed to have undetermined strength and many tricks up their sleeve. The little demon's concentration broke when he heard the sound of robust waves battering the rocks. As he emerged from the trees he was greeted by a pale moon, illuminating the black waters which rolled, and blended seamlessly with the starless sky.

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The warm inviting lights of the hotel began to fade behind the slender girl as she cautiously sought the forest. Concern beckoned her toward the dark place like a siren's song. The others of Team Urameshi seemed unconcerned for Hiei after the last round of the tournament. Or at least, the blue-haired girl felt, not concerned enough to check on him to make sure he was alright. This was not good enough for the girl who now sought after the demon. At the very least, she figured she may be able to use a healing technique on him. Even from the stands she could see the damage Hiei had dealt himself. She didn't want to see anyone from Team Urameshi dead, even if it was the most unfriendly one. Despite her good intentions, she didn't really know where to begin searching. She was unfamiliar with this forest, and as she soon realized, it was very difficult to navigate in this darkness. She found herself groping around in blindness. She tried sticking to the tree trunks, navigating by the patches of moonlight which occasionally broke through the canopy. With every passing minute she became less sure of the direction of the hotel. She was lost. Her hair and clothes were constantly becoming snagged on stray branches and vines. The vulnerability of this human body she occupied became painfully obvious once more to her. Determination, though, distracted her from all of these obstacles as she continued to search for Hiei. After all, his health was more important than a couple of hair pulls. Despite this altruistic determination, after about twenty minutes of fumbling in the darkness, she finally began to worry about herself. The fact that she still had no idea where Hiei could be, and that she probably couldn't find her way back to the safety of the hotel now if she wanted to, began to take priority on her list of concerns. She took a seat at the base of a tree near the next haven of moonlit patch. She began picking at her jeans as she examined her surroundings. This was not her domain, and she had failed at her quest, only succeeding in getting herself lost. She began to question her reason for coming out in this wicked place. Hiei isn't a very nice guy. It's not like he'd risk his own safety for anyone else. For that matter, like he'd help someone else if there was no danger involved. Botan chuckled to herself as she pictured the little Hiei standing over a fallen elderly lady as she asked to be helped up, peering down with that neutral expression he often carried, and his hands in his pockets.

Botan's small smile quickly disappeared as she stopped to listen. The rustling of the leaves made it difficult to confirm her suspicion that she had just heard a noise. She sat frozen, trying hard to hear over the wind when suddenly there it was again. There was no mistaking it now. Very low, very close, very menacing, she definitely heard a growl. Her eyes widened as her previous light-heartedness was quickly replaced with fear. It was too close. The snarl of some unknown beast which awaited in the thick darkness. She started to panic as she tried to figure a way out of this situation. She was all alone and at the disadvantage of being unable to see. Even if she could have seen at this point, she doubted her ability to fight this creature. Botan slowly returned to a standing position. She was trying to identify the direction of the growling, but in this tricky terrain it was difficult to tell. The monstrous noise echoed and seemed to be coming from everywhere. It wasn't even very loud. Yet still, no matter how much Botan strained her eyes, or how wide she made them, she couldn't see a thing. Very carefully, she took a couple of steps away from the tree she'd had her back to. As she searched, trying to find signs of anything, the hotel, a friendly passer-by, she felt a tight grip seize her shoulder. The surprise of it forced a scream from her throat. The iron grip began to hurt as the long, thick claws began to dig into her skin. She pulled against the grip, squirming at odd angles until she finally broke loose. There was not a second's hesitation before Botan took off running.

She was in a blind panic. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and her throat tightened. The roots of trees mockingly went out of their way to move into the girl's path, tripping her, disorienting her. Sometimes crawling trying to recover from a fall, sometimes running as fast as her environment would allow her, she pressed on. The malevolent presence always seemed like it was right beside her, ready to devour her. Her chest tightened and she began running short of breath. Yet still she managed to scream as she ran, "Help! Somebody!" She struggled to make her screams heard, but she was fighting for air, and the tears she tried to force back choked out her words. Her hope quickly sank away. Every second seemed like the one she would be snatched away by this presence. She continued to fight with her own body, screaming so that anyone would hear her. In the trees ahead of her she saw a large clearing where the moon shone uninterrupted by thick forest. The coast! As Botan was just feet from the edge of the clearing something brushed past her going in the opposite direction. It wasn't an attack, but it caused her to lose her balance, and she landed on her left hip hitting her head against a tree. There was a brief pain that exploded in her head, but it did not stop her from rushing back to her feet.

Once in the clearing she saw the grassy platform that lead to the jagged rocks, which separated land from the endless black sea. She immediately collapsed as her knees buckled under her weight. For the first time since she began running she turned to look behind her. This was the end of the line. Any second now, a hideous creature would come bounding out from the trees to tear her to shreds. As she sat on the grass panting, waiting, nothing happened. No creature that had been chasing her showed its self. Nothing. But she was sure something had grabbed her. Had she imagined it? She carefully watched the tees only to see the leaves dancing with the wind.

There was sound coming from behind the screen of bark. Just as the blue-haired girl had began to calm down, she was alarmed once more. A small shadow emerged moving slowly as she squinted to try and see what it was. Just then her panic was completely erased, replaced instead with confusion, "Hiei!?" The small man walked slowly, seemingly careless. He nearly blended in with the shadows, the exception being his pale abdomen which was lit by the moon.

"I came here to get away from you fools." He said in a snide tone, clearly annoyed with the girl's presence.

"Were you following me?" Botan asked with an expression twisted in confusion at the weird-factor of this suggestion.

"You mean your friend back there? I disposed of him easily enough." Botan blinked, "someone like you shouldn't be out here." Hiei continued, looking down at her, then passing her to reclaim his prior seat on top of a large rock with a semi-flat surface.

"But how-"

"A dead person could have heard you ," he said turning his head toward her so that she could hear. Botan looked to the ground with an innocent face and the tip of her index finger pressed against her lips.

"Well thank you Hiei, I wouldn't have expected-" but she stopped her sentence, realizing it had already started to sound insulting. She tried to play it off with a nervous laugh. Hiei only frowned at her. "Oh yes, I actually came out here to find you. You see, I wanted to make sure your arm... well, ah.. I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help." She smiled sweetly in her Botan-way, pushing the tips of her index fingers together. As she said this, she tried to examine his bandaged arm. The bandages were tight, there was no trace of the injury left to be exposed. Her eyes wandered up the demon's arm, which trailed over toward his strong shoulder, all the way over to his muscular... Botan scolded herself for allowing her eyes to stray, shaking her head suddenly.

"I don't need help, especially not from someone so pathetic." Hiei said flatly in his Hiei-way. The girl's face quickly knit together in a displeased frown as she released an unladylike grunt.

"Well that's just fine Hiei, because I don't need help from you either." She said very confidently, snootily. She snapped back to her feet, and turned towards the forest marching very boldly towards the trees. Hiei's eyebrows knit together in irritation. Then suddenly Botan froze in her tracks. Hiei's eyes fixed on her curiously as she turned back around without even returning her leg that was mid-step to the ground.

"Ah... that is... Do you happened to know which way back to the hotel?" She laughed loudly scratching the back of her head. Hiei almost fell backward off of his rock.

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Well kiddies, that's it for chapter 1. Be on the lookout for chapter 2, and thanks for reading ^^


	2. Why, I Oughtta!

Chapter 2 - Why, I Oughtta!

Musical recommendations: Yelle - Ce Jeu, Cenotype - Unearthed

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On the incredibly quiet and awkward walk back to the hotel, the pain of Botan's injuries began to set in. Though she hadn't realized it before, whatever it was that had grabbed her shoulder had punctured her skin. She pouted as she pawed at the irreparably torn jacket, and patted at the bump on her head that must have been at least two lumps high. She was quite embarrassed about having to have Hiei escort her back to the hotel, but in attempts to make herself feel better, tried to rationalize it. The only reason she ended up out in that forest was because of him. It wasn't her fault he was too prideful to accept her help. Escorting her back to the hotel was the least he could do. For that matter, he should shower her with gifts and praise.

_(Somewhere in Botan's imagination, she pictures Hiei bowing down to her, and piling elegantly wrapped gifts around her)_

A very audible laugh suddenly burst from Botan, which was quickly stifled by her hand. Though she couldn't see very well, she could tell that Hiei turned his head to cast a glare in her direction. Well, maybe not praise and gifts. Botan also wondered what Hiei could be thinking at that moment. She realized he never really spoke about anything outside of battle, so it was impossible for her to try an guess. Except maybe he was thinking about battle. The hotel was now in sight. At what point would Hiei stop 'escorting' her? A game it is! The further he follows her, the more he cares for her safety. How nice...

Hiei periodically glanced up at her out of the corner of his eye, now unsure if he should be annoyed or confused at her behavior. Through no formal decision, annoyance remained the preferred reaction.

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Once the both of them entered the room of Team Urameshi, Hiei behind Botan, they were immediately greeted by the very curious Yusuke. Before Hiei had even closed the door, Yusuke had already magically appeared behind Botan, with a grin which made it appear as though half of his face was teeth. "So where did you go, huh? Late-night stroll?" He said coyly, diverting his gaze from Botan to Hiei. Hiei ignored Yusuke, and everyone else in room, and walked past towards the window. But Botan glared at him, clenching her fists, "did you two," Urameshi said in a low murmur right by Botan's ear, making a gesture with his pinky finger, "you know." Yusuke began giggling to himself as he no doubt tried to picture it in his mind, casting looks at Botan and Hiei, who sat obliviously at the window. It was at this point which Botan landed one of her clenched fists on the back of Yusuke's head.

"How could you suggest something like that, Yusuke?" She said with her eyes closed and her fist still hovering in the air where Urameshi's head once was. He crouched to the floor holding his injury, his expression dazed. Kuwabara jumped from his seat, offended by Yusuke's conduct.

"You'd better shut up, Urameshi, or I'll shut you up!" Kuwabara shook his fist at Yusuke, raising his voice. Kurama, who sat on the nearby couch, silently laughed to himself, amused by the scene these three caused.

"That's right Yusuke, you'd better knock it off or you'll be in big trouble." Botan's eyes closed in an innocent smile as she said this. Then, as if he had never gotten up from the ground, but once more magically appeared next to her,

"What's this," Yusuke poked at the bloody spots on the girl's shoulder, "and you look really sweaty. You should tell him to take it easier on you next time." His arm was now around her shoulder as he giggled like a dirty old man who walked around town with a trench coat, and no pants on underneath. This time Yusuke found Botan's oar reconstructing the back of his head, as she did a 'make it magically appear' trick of her own.

"You just never learn, do you Yusuke?" She said in a scolding tone. Hiei spared a glance from the window, wondering why she hadn't shown this sort of strength in the forest.

"Tonight must be the night you want to die, Urameshi." Hiei warned.

"You can't talk about Miss Botan like that!" Kuwabara said grabbing Yusuke by the front of his shirt.

"I guess you're right," Yusuke said, sounding as if he'd given up, "what Hiei and Botan do at night in the middle of the forest is none of my business." He resumed his grin full of large sharp teeth, and dopily squinted eyes. It was not a minute later that Yusuke smacked against the wall across the hallway from their room's door.

"And stay out!" Botan said furiously, standing next to Kuwabara, who did the throwing. She slammed the door on the pesky Yusuke, and threw herself over a cushy armchair. Reaching for a nearby book, she found herself mentally ranting about how rude Yusuke had been, and laughing at his muffled pleas which barely made it through the door. Just what was he thinking? Just because two people of opposite genders happened to go into the same woods doesn't mean that they're...

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_(Somewhere in Botan's imagination)_

_Botan was back at that dark, rocky shore after Hiei had rescued her from the pursuing creature without a second thought. She brought herself to her feet and approached Hiei, unzipping her bloody jacket, then pulling it off revealing nothing but a white tank top underneath. She sat next to Hiei, facing the opposite direction he was as he stared off into the sea. As she settled, her leg not two inches away from his, she looked upon him with girlish curiosity. The tip of her index finger found its way just between her teeth as she examined his bare chest. So strong, yet so vulnerable she thought. Hiei finally turned his eyes, and she met his gaze with overt demure. She diverted her eyes, and the demon raised his fingers to her wounded shoulder, the shoulder closest to him. She looked back at him to see his eyes focused on her shoulder as his fingers ghosted over her skin, careful not to touch the sensitive wounds. She winced slightly at the dull pain this close contact caused, which drew his attention back to her eyes. He watched her eyes with intensity as his fingers still trailed slowly down her shoulder over her chest. He watched her as if he would learn her by examining her reaction to his touch. She was not used to being touched in such a sensitive place, as the perks in her tank top revealed. Her heartbeat quickened, she was sure he could feel it through her chest. As his fingers reached the perk he had caused on her right breast, he removed his fingers. She diverted her eyes once more, feeling as though he could see right through her. She couldn't hide anything from him. Then he moved his face close to hers, his lips nearly touching her ear. She could feel his heat, which made her own rise so that the occasional cool breeze was almost a shock of cold. He whispered to her as he eased his hand across her front waist. His breath tickled her ear, which made her shy her shoulder away from him with a shiver than crept up her spine. With his left hand, he guided her neck closer to his lips. He could feel the girl's soft hair on his mouth when he pressed his lips against the side of her neck. She giggled as the kisses continued, his lips caressing the delicate skin, and she rested her left hand against his right shoulder. He used his right arm, which was around her waist, to pull her in even closer to his body. He felt the goose bumps that covered her frail arm, as her right shoulder pressed against his exposed chest. Botan was forced to use her right arm as a balance, placing it on the other side of Hiei's legs. He pulled her closer still, exploring her neck, making her head fall back, and placing more pressure on her injured shoulder. Blood smeared his chest from her wounds. The pressure and salty touch of Hiei's chest on her wounds, coupled with the continuous delight she found in his kisses on her neck, this mixture of pleasure and pain, forced a moan from her lips, "Hiei," she groaned, almost in a daze._

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Botan's cheeks turned bright red as she tried to return her full concentration to her book. Impulsively, she snuck a quick peek at Hiei, who still sat at the window. She found that he was already staring at her with wide eyes, one of them twitching slightly. Yusuke still banged on the door, pleading to be let back in, insisting he was just joking around and would stop.

"Keep it down Urameshi!" Kuwabara called through the door. All of this background noise didn't ease Botan's intense feelings of guilt and embarrassment. Hiei must have known! She easily tore her eyes away from the awkward stare Hiei glued on her, and the first thing her eyes landed on was Kurama, who sat across from her. He looked at her curiously. She looked back at him beginning to break a light sweat still feeling Hiei's eyes judging her. Her face looked guilty, blushed, and sweaty. Kurama shifted his eyes over to Hiei who was still staring at Botan with a twitching eye. Kurama, being the intelligent demon he was, shifted his eyes back to Botan who looked at him, frozen.

"Hmm?" he said, raising an eyebrow. A slight smirk grew on his face.

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Well there you have it once more, kiddies. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. : )


	3. Get Out of My Head

Chapter 3 - Get Out of My head.

A warning to my fair, possibly under-aged, innocent, or impressionable readers: Please take notice of the raised rating. This chapter contains mature content. Music recommendation: Alien Sex Fiend - Lips can't Go

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"Botan, what happened to your shoulder?" Kuwabara inquired looking at the blood stains on the jacket she still wore.

"Oh this? I had almost forgotten." She laughed nervously, examining the jacket, "I, ah..."

"She got attacked in the woods," Hiei broke in. His sudden words drew Botan's attention back over to him. He grinned menacingly at her, "perhaps someone should take a look at that?" Kurama continued to watch the scene in silence, feeling that the drama was not yet over. He almost could have gone for a popcorn. Botan's face turned beet red as she took an interest in the floor.

"No, ah.. that's alright. I'm just fine," she said, not able to see the mocking expression of Hiei's.

"Yeah, seriously Botan, someone should take a look at it," Kuwabara said with all seriousness.

"You wouldn't want it to get infected," Hiei added patronizingly. Botan shot up from her seat.

"No really, I'm just fine. Oh, I just remembered I had something I needed to talk to Yusuke about," she giggled mindlessly as she broke for the door. Hiei's eyes followed her out the door with a devilish grin on his face. He enjoyed seeing her squirm. Yusuke still stood at the door, only to get nailed in the face by it when Botan swung it open. "Ooops, sorry Yusuke. You really shouldn't stand in front of doors like that," she smiled at him and hurried off. Yusuke stumbled back into the room through the door Botan had left open, still trying to make the room stop spinning.

"What got into her?" Urameshi rubbed his forehead. Kuwabara glared at him for the intended pun, and he responded with a dorkish "heee."

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"This is bad... This is very bad," Botan said to herself as she petered towards the elevator. Had Hiei been reading her mind? How could she have been so careless? She smacked herself on the forehead as the elevator door opened. When she removed her hand she saw none other than Chu, the drunken weird guy Yusuke had just beaten that day. Clearly he was intoxicated even now, so Botan was cautious as she stepped into the elevator with him.

"Good evening doll-face," his speech slurred.

"Ehehehe," She tried to refrain from saying anything rude. "Good evening."

"Aren't you with Urameshi's group?" He took a swig from the bottle he carried, "That's quite a cut you've got there. Those guys on Urameshi's team must not know how to treat a pretty lady!" Tears welled in his eyes at the unfortunate explanation he developed for Botan's wound. It simply broke his heart. Botan stared wide-eyed. Chu got uncomfortably close to Botan's face, resting his hand on the wall she pressed her back against. The smell of his breath alone could have given second-hand buzz, "How about you come with me?"

"Ahh," She inched towards the elevator door, "oh, would you look at that, it's my floor. Bye," she tore out of the elevator, bumping into a couple of people who were waiting, hoping Chu wouldn't follow. She wondered just how many girls he had accosted in the elevator just since the end of the first round. Once she looked at her surroundings she realized she was back in the lobby. Not where she had intended on going, but she definitely didn't want to get back on the elevator at the moment. With nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do, she decided to go sit outside.

There was only an occasional person stepping outside, but otherwise, no one else around. Botan took a seat on a bench near the front entrance, looking up at the sky. Despite the intent of the suggestion as it was originally posed, she thought she ought to have a look at her shoulder. She unzipped her jacket, and peeled it away from her shoulder, unaware of the eyes in the darkness that watched her. Her jackets sat in her lap as she poked at the three fair sized holes on her shoulder which were now beginning to scab over. Who knew how long she'd have to wait there before she could safely pass to her room with the rest of the girls, and get some sort of bandage on this? It's not like she should return right away, even if Chu wasn't making the elevator his place to meet girls. She had to get rid of her guilty face, otherwise the other girls were sure to catch it like sharks attracted to blood. Then, oh, then she'd have to explain just what happened. That Hiei must have been reading her mind when she...

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_(Somewhere in Botan's imagination)_

_Back on that rocky night shore, Hiei was positioned between Botan's legs, forcing them apart. Botan propped herself up with her hands as she met his eyes while he rested down between her thighs. She could feel everything, all of Hiei, through her panties, which was now all she wore. She hardly had time to flash him an erotic smile before he took her lips between his with a light grip. She parted her lips only to find herself receiving his tongue, which swirled around her own. Lightly, he played with her tongue as his hand slid up her stomach, coming to a stop on her breast. He kneaded, taking her pink, sensitive nipple in between his thumb and index finer, pinching it carefully to perk it back up. The taste of her stripped away Hiei's self control, he could no longer contain the urge to churn his hips against hers. He wanted to feel her more intensely, he wanted her to feel what she was doing to him. Botan moaned and fell back as the hardened girth of Hiei massaging her between her thighs brought a wave of delectation rushing through her body. He wasted no time in advancing over her, bringing his lips to the powdery, moonlit skin of her stomach. He kissed it passionately, sampling more of her, forcing her cream to dampen her panties. She tangled her fingers in his hair, breathily whispering his name as his kisses moved down towards her... _

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Botan wasn't even aware of the fact that her mind had gone into day-dream mode. It wasn't until the sudden presence next to her bench startled her that she returned to reality. "What are you doing here?" She was totally caught off guard. The robe-like shirt he now wore hid him a little better than before.

"I could ask you the same, but I think I know already," the little demon said peering at her through the dimly lit space between them.

"Whatever could you mean?" She asked meaning it to sound as though she didn't know what he was talking about. In actuality, it came out sounding more like she had just conceded to the fact that he knew. Hiei grunted at her,

"Don't play stupid." Botan searched for an answer, because he didn't seem like he was going to go away any time soon. "I wouldn't have expected one of Koenma's lap dogs to have such a filthy mind."

"I can have any kind of mind I want," she said crossing her arms across her chest. "Besides, it's not like it's any of your business."

"Not the business of the one you'd let between your legs so easily?" Hiei chuckled to himself. She went on the offensive, shooting up from her seat.

"Well if you don't like it, Hiei, maybe you shouldn't read people's thoughts. I can't help what pops in there." She said accusingly, stamping her foot on the ground, and looking slightly down at him so as to look him in the eyes. He took a step forward, coming a little closer than Botan was used to, tilting his head back at an angle so as to stare her... well, up.

"If I don't like it?" His remark sardonic, his expression suddenly turned to an evil grin she had only seen him use in battle, right as he had out smarted someone, just before he massacred them. She writhed, unsure of what he was up to. To her surprise, he turned and began walking back into the hotel. She regained her confidence.

"Wait. What did you come out here for?" She demanded of him. He paused and turned his head to the side.

"Just to wish you goodnight," he said mischievously.

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"I wonder where Botan could be," Keiko played cards with Atsuko, "She left out of here so suddenly. I wonder if something's wrong?" No sooner did Atsuko win their game of Crazy 8s, did Botan walk in. "Botan! What happened?" Keiko said jumping up from the table, denying Atsuko the chance to gloat over her victory.

"It's a long story..."

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There you have it kiddies, hope you enjoyed the chapter. And don't be afraid of that review button down there. It's there for you to let me know what you think. ; )


	4. So Much for Diplomacy

Chapter 4 - So Much for Diplomacy.

Music recommendation: Ladytron - Fighting in Built Up Areas.

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The next morning Botan awoke with the rest of the girls, who wanted to get to the stadium early to get good seats. She had optimism that perhaps she wouldn't run into Hiei. Or better yet, maybe he would just forget about the whole thing. Today was a new day. On that note, she felt that she should try to forget the whole thing happened yesterday. Yeah, that's it. Smiling to herself, she headed out the door with the others, and found herself being followed even closer by Atsuko. "Hey Botan, what are you gonna do about Hiei?" And there went her plans of forgetting about the whole ordeal. If Atsuko remembered, surely Hiei would. "Now that he knows, you could," as she made a gesture with her pinky finger, "you know," she nudged Botan on the arm. The source of Yusuke's behavior became painfully obvious.

"I don't have to do anything about it."

"Oh, so you're playing hard to get, huh? Good choice," Atsuko laughed, slapping Botan on the back. Her face reddened,

"That's not what I meant!" By this time all of the girls entered the elevator.

"Calm down Botan. I'm sure Atsuko doesn't mean it in a mean way, she's just trying to help. I mean, surely you didn't think Hiei would just forget, and you wouldn't have to deal with it, did you?" Keiko said, unknowingly shooting down Botan's entire plan. The expression Botan made told them all, and Atsuko laughed at her naiveté.

"You should probably come up with a better plan," Shizuru only chimed in because she didn't want to see Botan fall on her face.

"What am I going to do then?" Botan sighed, surrendering to the advice of the other girls. If they could see all of these problems in her approach, surely Hiei would.

"You've got to be more aloof. You panic really easily, and it shows on your face." Shizuru said aloofly, clearly suggesting Botan be more like her.

"That's right," Keiko nodded in agreement, "it's really easy to tell what you're thinking, and we can't even read minds." She laughed nervously, realizing she had just shoved the whole incident back into Botan's face.

"He'll totally be able to mess with your head if he knows what you're thinking, so it's best to think that you don't care one way or another." The wise Shizuru added.

"Of course you could just skip over all of this and get right to it." Atsuko once more suggesting Botan should do something inappropriate. They all looked at her like she had a serious problem, "What?" She asked with little interest, confident in the fact that her approach would work. The elevator rang at the first floor and they all exited into the lobby.

"I'll try my best. But what if it doesn't work? What if something goes wrong?" She said beginning to panic.

"You can't think that way Botan. Remember, keep calm. You can't show the slightest sign of weakness." Keiko said encouragingly.

"Besides, it's not like you could make things any worse," Atsuko laughed aloud, drawing cold glances from Keiko and Botan. By the time they stepped out of the front entrance, Botan felt as though she had been prepped for battle.

"Sleep well?" Botan recognized the voice behind her immediately. She paused, the other girls looked back and saw Hiei leaned up against the wall near the entrance, his arms crossed over his chest. They each gave Botan their own gesture of well wishing which for the most part was a friendly wave, with the exception of Atsuko's crude pinky gesture. They then continued walking to the stadium without her. Botan turned slowly, as if her problem standing behind her was a powder keg that would explode if she made any sudden movements.

"Well good morning Hiei," frantically she searched for something off-topic, "Are you ready for the second round?" She smiled brightly at him, holding her arms behind her back.

"Second round?" his arms still crossed over his chest, "you mean you didn't get enough last night?"

"Wh-what!?" her face pure exacerbation. Hiei laughed to himself, stepping calmly away from the wall to approach her.

"Did you manage to have any dreams where I wasn't violating you?" he began walking around her in a circle, making her quite uneasy. She decided once more to go on the offensive, in the final act of disregard to all of the advice and preparation she had just received in the elevator.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. And even if I didn't, Hiei," here she once more looked down at him as he circled her, "what difference would it make to you? As I recall, you only care about yourself." Self-righteous was her tone.

"Is that so?" He stopped once he was standing in front of her again, "how is your shoulder." Not even posed as a question, it was a statement which served the purpose of reminding Botan of how he had saved her, and helped her back to the hotel the night before. She lowered her head.

"I'm sorry, that was wrong of me." She said sincerely, suddenly feeling ashamed at forgetting this deed he had done for her.

"I wouldn't get apologetic if I were you. I _do _only care for myself." Now that he had gotten her to feel a fool, satisfied, he coolly brushed away her apologies with a single wave of his hand. She became enraged at this callus relapse into being selfish, and his attempts to avoid admitting he had done something categorically 'good.'

"Hiei!" She raised her head to meet his eyes. Her expression, full of anger, puzzled him.

"You want it?" She was thrown off by this, but tried to ignore it, and continue.

"You did something nice for me yesterday, so don't go on acting so cool about it." She waved her finger in his face. To the people, and demons, who stood outside of the entrance this looked almost like a mother scolding her defiant, spiky-headed child. However, none of them dared laugh at it, for they knew this was the one of the Urameshi Team who had just turned a guy into ash the day before. Hiei scoffed.

"If you're so concerned about it, maybe you should start thinking about how you're going to repay me." Botan was struck dumb-founded. But before she had a chance to think of a response, Hiei was gone.

"Repay him?" She walked towards the stadium with a weight in her chest as these words resonated in her mind. She had no idea what to do. Did he actually expect her to repay him? All things considered, he did help her out a lot, so it wouldn't be so unheard of to show gratitude. In fact, it was almost required! But surely he didn't mean... Why, that's absolutely unacceptable for him to expect such a thing! Although he did get the idea from her mind... On that note, why did she think those things? "Ohh," she sighed once more smacking herself on the forehead. "And doesn't that guy ever wear a shirt?"

*-*-*-*-*-*

Once Botan arrived at the stadium she eventually found the rest of the girls, who sat near Koenma. She was surprised to see Koenma here, in human form no less, "Lord Koenma, what are you doing here?"

"I'm just here as an observer," his attention sternly on the fight.

"So Botan, how did it go with Hiei?" Atsuko said trying to yell over the crowd.

"Oh that," the other girls looked at her greedily, also curious of the outcome, "didn't go so well."

"Hm?" Koenma looked over at Botan, "What didn't go so well? Botan, are you okay? You look like a sweaty tomato."

"Ah! It's nothing, sir," she said frantically waving her hands in front of her as if that would make her invisible to Koenma. He hiked an eyebrow at her, but returned his attention to the match. Botan, herself looked to see the progress of the match. She saw Kuwabara, Yusuke, and the masked fighter fighting against three from the other team. Hiei and Kurama were missing. Her stomach knotted, and she began to feel light headed, eyes starting to well up, "but, where's Hiei?" Even she did not realize how shaky and worried her voice sounded as she blurted it out. The other girls simultaneously looked over at her with evil, animalistic grins, as if she had just been caught stealing from the cookie jar. "It's not what you think!" Again she smiled and did her 'you don't see me' hand wave.

Just then there was a crash, an announcement that a member of the Ichigaki Team had fallen from the sky. This momentarily distracted everyone's attention away, "Hiei!" Botan yelled excitedly, only to find everyone, including Koenma, looking at her strangely. "...And Kurama. Woo, you guys are all right!!" She punched a fist in the air, really trying to sell her celebratory act to the others. The girls still looked at her with Cheshire grins, while Koenma was as confused as ever. Botan sunk down in her seat.

"Botan, just what the heck is going on," he sad through his pacifier, "did something happen to you?"

"It's such a funny story! You see, last night," Atsuko was not able to finish her breath before she found Botan lunged over Koenma 's seat, her hand over Atsuko's mouth.

"No no, sir. Everything in fine. Absolutely nothing for you to worry about," she said, still smothering Atsuko.

"Then could you get out of my lap?" A single bead of sweat trailed down Koenma's face, as he clearly didn't want to go through the trouble of finding out why Botan was being so secretive.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Later that evening Botan found herself once more sitting at her bench near the entrance of the hotel. The crowd again low as everyone was beginning to settle down after the end of the day's fighting. What an eventful day it had been. Two consecutive matches for Team Urameshi, Yukina showing up to find who she didn't know was Hiei, everyone getting a good laugh at Yusuke's spirit beast. Botan began giggling once more thinking about the funny-looking, and utterly non-intimidating Puu. Through all this commotion, she kept finding herself thinking about how cool Hiei was during the fights. Also, she wondered, why had she been so worried when she saw that he hadn't shown up for the second fight? Was she afraid something had happened to him? And how about this whole 'pay him back' business. She was almost too tired to think about it. She leaned over, resting her elbows on her knees, resting her eyes.

"How sweet. You were worried about me?" Her eyes shot open, and before she even looked, she began yelling and waving her arms in the air.

"Would you quit doing that!" Once she actually looked, she saw that Kurama was there with him, and retracted her fists from the air. Kurama covered his mouth with his hand to hide his smile, though it was quite obvious he was laughing at the two of them.

"If you'll excuse me," he said walking off in attempts to spare Botan any further embarrassment. She resumed her bench-sitting, glaring up at Hiei for being a mental terrorist.

"Tell me, exactly how 'cool' was I?" He said mockingly, sitting beside her on the bench. Her only reply was to cover her face with her hands.

"Cool enough," she said trying to terminate that line of questioning as quickly as possible, now pouting off in the other direction.

"Have you used that over active imagination of yours to think of a way to thank me? Or have you only used it to think of more services you want me to perform for you?" This comment caused a spark in Botan. She became tired of him making embarrassing comments, forcing her to try and answer for her embarrassing thoughts. She had tried to resolve the issue, but nothing else seemed to work. Her only solution: facing the issue head-on, with a daring, unwavering resolve. And of course, no fore-thought.

"What do you want Hiei?" She jumped off the bench and turned to face him, her voice almost a shout. This drew the attention of the few nearby people, who wouldn't dare say anything. "You want to read my mind, huh? You wanna know all about the private thoughts going on in there, hm?" Her hands latched onto her hips, and she fired away her imagination.

*-*-*-*-*-*

And so readers, the saga continues. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter ^_^


	5. The Jury is Out

Chapter 5 - The Jury is Out.

Once more I wish to set forth fair warning to my more sensitive readers. This particular chapter contains mature content. Music recommendation: Esthero - Nearly Civilized.

*-*-*-*-*-*

_(Somewhere in Botan's imagination)_

_Now it was Hiei who lay on his back, clothing nowhere to be found on either of them, their bare bodies bathed in the bluish moonlight. Botan released a long yawn of arousal as she crept over Hiei, arching her back downward to press her body full length against his. Her breasts making contact with his soft, inviting skin, then her tummy, as she pushed herself up against him. Once her eyes were level with his, she inhaled through clenched teeth as she rested down against him, and felt the stern ridges of his manhood nestled against her lower stomach. She smiled seductively at Hiei, his eyebrows raised in delightful awe at how intrepid she was. She tilted her body to the side just enough to allow her hand passage down his tight, warm body. Her fingers slithered down his stomach as she explored his finely tuned muscles. Tracing the crease at his hip, which led her fingers to his anxious cock. She tilted even more to the side, allowing it to spring to life so that she could wrap her graceful fingers around the rigid shaft. A subdued 'mmm' vibrated from her throat when she began guiding his organ through her careful grip. Her eyes briefly took a look down and viewed her work, as well as the piece of Hiei she held captive in her hand, before she returned her eyes to his with the corners of her mouth turned up. He grinned back at her, pleased with her coaxing grip that teased his milky pre-cum from him. _

_Then she shifted. Straddling Hiei, she lowered herself down just enough to bring the head of his manhood in contact with her lower lips. For his visual stimulation, she rocked her hips back and forth on his already pre-cum covered tip, holding it in place with her left hand. With her right hand, she felt up her body, stroking herself, wrapping herself in her own caresses. The top of his cock was now covered in her own cream as it throbbed between her lips. As if stirring her up, it only caused her to cream that much more. "Ahh," was the only thing she could say as she rolled her head back allowing her eyes to ease shut so she could focus on the texture of the man so close to penetrating her. She felt his hands curve around her hips, wanting to control her, massaging her hips with his thumbs. She opened her eyes again when she leaned back, supporting herself on her arm, to run her juicy peach the full length of his shaft. Her lips were now constantly spread on him, which allowed her to feel him in the depths of her sensitive fold. She felt like she might come with the next full pass over Hiei's now creamy cock, so she again shifted, removing her lips from him._

_He smiled down at her, putting one hand behind his head while she retreated between his legs, bringing her lips to his lower stomach. While her right hand stroked his cock, determined to keep him pleased, she showered the area near it with delicate kisses and flicks of the tongue. He ran his fingers through her hair, and she looked up at him, watching him, smiling at him, showing him she enjoyed his ambrosial body. As he grinned down at her, she made deliberate acts with her tongue, allowing him to see every bit of what she was doing. Once she released this part of him, she brought her lips close to it, lightly kissing it, just enough to get the taste of it on her lips. The kisses grew deeper as she took more of it into her mouth after each time she released, stopping occasionally to circle the tip of her tongue around his tip, panting hot, heavy breath. She was sucking now, going down as far as she could, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could, holding the rest of it with her hand. Slowly she went up and down the length of him, feeling the life coursing through his thick shaft, pulsating in her mouth. He held the back of her head, a gesture of domination, as she had finally caused him to lay his head back and enjoy it. She was doing so well, he feared that if he continued to watch it, he would come before he wanted to. By this time her own taste was in her mouth because she had run her tongue up and down where she had just been rubbing her peach. With her spare hand she cradled his scrotum, gently squeezing and massaging, rubbing her thumb up and down the seam. _

_Now Hiei sat up, propping himself on his arm, holding the back of Botan's hand, feeling his eminent ejaculation. The pace of Botan's suckling had now quickened. He looked down to watch her, her face, when he came. Botan kept Hiei in her mouth until she felt the first bit of explosion in her mouth, for Hiei had not warned her. She removed his cock, which glistened rouge in the moonlight, to place it near her breasts where she finished him off. Hiei gasped as he watched Botan tentatively get his essence on her chest. He smiled wide at her as she continued idly stroking him, thoroughly milking him, making him twitch. She took a sampling of his come on her index finger then sucked her finger clean. "Mmm, the taste you can see."(1)_

_*-*-*-*-*-*_

Botan's hand were still glued to her hips, still not losing sight of her goal. However, once she saw Hiei, she began to think that whole 'charge the problem head on' thing was a bad idea. What could she have possibly been thinking? How was imagining that scenario going to solve anything? If she could have, she would have kicked herself in the face because the badness of her idea finally began to sink in. Just as the gravity of the situation tempted her to recant, she reaffirmed in herself that cowering from the situation had not worked all of the other times she had tried. There was a long silence, the whole time she didn't dare look him in the face. Quite unexpectedly, Hiei got up from the bench, and walked back into the hotel, keeping his eyes on her as he passed. It was now that Botan's resolve came crashing down. What could he possibly be thinking now? Why didn't he say anything? Will he finally leave her alone? Oh, why did she have to do that...

*-*-*-*-*-*

Hiei entered the Urameshi room only to find Kuwabara and Kurama, learning that Yusuke had gone off with the masked fighter. Kuwabara was still fairly unaware of the situation, but Kurama began to formulate the idea that something was going on. He gathered this not just by the way Botan had been acting the other night, but also from the bit of confrontation he witnessed between them minutes before when he and Hiei returned from observing the remaining fights. Kuwabara took little interest in Hiei's appearance, but Kurama watched him with a slightly concerned look. He knew how Hiei was, and feared perhaps he was being cruel to her. Though it did amuse him to see the harmless squabbles of the two of them, he thought to himself that perhaps he should try to be a voice of reason.

"You know, Botan is a nice girl," Kurama said, drawing both Kuwabara and Hiei's attention. Hiei scoffed at him, taking a seat on the cushy armchair she had sat on the night before. Odd for him to sit in a comfortable place, Kurama noted to himself.

"Shows what you know," Hiei chuckled at him defiantly.

"Hey! I won't stand by while you dishonor a lady like that," the gentlemanly Kuwabara challenged, still trying not to move too much after his chest injury during the second round.

"Kuwabara," Kurama said in a calming voice, insisting he needn't get so upset over the words of Hiei. "I don't know what's going on with you two, but Botan seems sort of upset. Perhaps you should go easy on her." Kurama very sincere, but now beginning to doubt Hiei would heed anything he had to say.

"I'll deal with her to the best of my ability." Hiei got up from his chair, and walked into the bathroom, the click of the lock soon followed. Kurama bit his bottom lip, not liking the calculating sound of those words, while he looked at Kuwabara. Kuwabara was quite confused, looking to Kurama for answers. How odd for Hiei to not simply leave out to the forest if he wanted to escape criticism, Kurama also noted to himself...

*-*-*-*-*-*

All of the other girls simultaneously fell backward when Botan related to them what happened, in not so much detail. They only got that she had "done it again," although this time "it was worse," in order to spare poor Yukina any of the seedy details.

"I have failed," Botain said meekly, fitting a paper bag with no eye holes over her head. She felt quite miserable, and apparently didn't care who knew it. Yukina, uninformed about what was going on, was too timid to ask.

"This calls for emergency measures," Atsuko said. As soon as Botan peeked out from under her paper bag, she found a bottle of sake shoved in her mouth.

"Atsuko! Do you always keep one of those in your back pocket, or something?" Keiko fired at her from the couch, "that's no way to deal with-" Botan had finished half of the bottle before Keiko could even begin her righteous rant. "Have it your way," she sighed, washing her hands of the situation.

"Don't be so uptight Keiko. What's the worse that could happen?"

*-*-*-*-*-*

(1) Sorry guys. This is what happens when you eat cereal and write hentai.

Alright folks, the saga continues. Thanks for continuing to read. : )


	6. Don't Whisper So Loud

Chapter 6 - Don't Whisper So Loud.

Music recommendation: Salt n Pepa - None of Your Business

*-*-*-*-*-*

All the men in the room of Team Urameshi were asleep. It was dark, it was late. All was quiet. Until Kurama heard a strange noise at the door. At first it only stirred him, but eventually he came to a dull state of consciousness. It sounded almost like a soft thudding, the sound of someone perhaps trying to talk through the door. Kurama, being closest to the door, sat up in his bed. He squinted to see in the darkness; Kuwabara and Hiei still slept soundly, the digital alarm clock said 3:17. Kurama crawled out of bed, feeling around, trying to keep from running into anything, his eyes still trying to adjust to the darkness. Once he reached the door, he stopped to listen. There was a sudden clank against the door, which sounded almost like glass hitting it, that caused him to flinch. He turned back to look, Hiei and Kuwabara still slept undisturbed. Kurama listened harder, trying to discern what was going on outside of the door before he recklessly opened it. A muffled female voice. He couldn't make out what it was saying, but he figured that if the door hadn't been broken down yet, it must not be an attack. Cautiously, he reached for the doorknob, turning it, the pang of a fist and glass on the other side of the door.

As soon as Kurama cracked the door open, he could hear the voice a little better, "Waaaaahh, let me in there! I know somebody's home!"

"Botan?" Kurama then swung the door open, unintentionally blinding himself with the light in the hallway. His arm rose to shield his eyes. Before he knew what was going on, Botan, who had been using the door as a support, fell against him. Losing all balance, her knees buckled under her, and Kurama found her face in his groin.

"Ahh, I can't see!" She said giggling in a squeaky voice. "It's the koosh! BONG!!" Kurama quickly backed away trying to get her face out of his crotch, not knowing that she would fall on the floor. "Wheee," was her response to falling on her face, "hey Kurama! Kurama is that you? Hey Kurama. Hey, hey. Kurama! That was fun, let's try, try it again. Just push me back out of the door." She waved a nearly empty sake bottle in the air to gesture towards the hallway.

"Botan, are you okay?" He asked crouching down, his eyes still trying to adjust to the light that was coming in from the hallway.

"Yeah, you know I thought my face would hurt more if I fell on it like that, but hey. Hey Kurama, guess what? It doesn't hurt at all. It's like it never even happened." She waved her hands around, widening her eyes, as if to imply there was something magical about it, then breaking into uncontrollable giggles.

"Are you drunk," he said grabbing the bottle away from her and setting it aside.

"Umm, if by drunk you mean I drank then, um... Heyyy, that reminds me, where'd my drink go?" Kuwabara stirred.

"Kurama? What's going on?" Sleep still heavy in his voice.

"Um, nothing," he said quickly putting his hand over Botan's mouth to silence her, "I'm just stepping out for a minute." He rolled Botan out of the doorway and closed the door behind them before she woke anyone else up. When he removed his hand from Botan's mouth he found it covered in drool.

"Oh my god Kurama, is that the hand you touch your penis with? Because I swear it tastes just like Jolly Ranchers." She laid on the floor laughing lazily, pawing at his leg. "Mew, mew."

"Let's get you out of here." He reached down and picked her up by her arm, "what happened to you anyway?"

*-*-*-*-*-*

Meanwhile in the girls' room, all of the other girls had gone to bed. All of the girls except Atsuko, who had insisted on staying up and being Botan's drinking buddy. The same Atsuko who now lay passed out, her face resting on the table which also held 3 other empty sake bottles.

*-*-*-*-*-*

"No Kurama, where are we going, Hiei's back that way." Kurama raised his eyebrows, a bit shocked at her apparent reason for coming to their room like this.

"Botan, is that why you drank? Because of Hiei?" Suddenly very concerned as held her by her waist and her arm, which was draped over his shoulders. She held up almost none of her weight on her own. Kurama contemplated just carrying her, but decided against it, feeling it might look weird if they were to run into someone. He looked down at her face, and was alarmed to see it twisted in an odd way. She looked back up at him, her face only inches from his. Her eyes were crossed, cheeks puffed out, she bit down on her bottom lip. Kurama thought she was about to puke the way she held this face.

"DUUUUUUH!!" She suddenly exploded at him, spitting in his face, releasing this odd expression she was making. While she erupted in another giggle fit, Kurama wiped her spit off his face, sighing.

"How about you come sit and talk with me a bit, then I'll take you to see Hiei?" Not intending to take her to Hiei at all, Kurama directed her towards the elevator.

"Okay Kurama, if you think that'll work. I don't care what everyone else says about you, you're a cute guy." Much to his surprise she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Botan, please," the sharp alcohol stench on her breath made him a bit nauseous.

"Don't beg for it Kurama, this ishn't the proper place." She smacked at him, hitting him in the chest, as if to say 'stop it'. Kurama shook his head, trying to be upbeat about the situation.

"Imagine that. I'm the one whose team progressed in the tournament today, but you did the celebratory drinking." This dull attempt at making fun of the situation really seemed to tickle Botan's funny bone.

"PffffffHAAAAA!!" Once more she spit on his face, "that's fuuuunny! You're FUNNY Kurama!" She dragged her weight, as she could apparently not laugh and walk at the same time, forcing Kurama to sway with her weight in attempts to keep her from falling.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Kurama directed Botan to the bench near the entrance of the hotel to have her sit, trying to get her to keep her voice down the whole way. She drew the attention of the few attendants who were in the lobby. He found himself having to wave away their attention, insisting nothing was wrong.

"No Kurama. Not HERE! This is a terrible place." Suddenly she looked more pouty, less sloppily happy.

"Why is that? What happened between you and Hiei?" He took a seat next to her, keeping an eye out in the event she started to fall.

"It's just so hard," she started to sound whiney, as if she was about to cry, "he keeps reading my mind."

"Oh, I see. What is it he saw?"

"It was bad Kurama. I didn't even mean to do it at first. It was an accident. But then after the fight, I was worried about him. Then I thought maybe I did mean it. It made me feel better when I thought it, so it was on purpose. And then he looked at me all weird and just left." Finally she broke out into light sobbing, "how am I supposed to fix it, Kurama?" She dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"What is it you imagined?" Suddenly she made the gestures implying she was embarrassed.

"Um, let's just say... I put his weenie in my mouth," the word 'weenie' sounded very funny to her as she said it aloud. Kurama, who was slightly shocked at this revelation also chuckled to himself.

"I see," he was still trying to wrap his head around the entire situation.

"What," Botan pawed at him once more, "hey Kurama. What, what did Hiei say? Did Hiei say anything? About me, did he say something? Hiei?" Kurama was almost ignoring her at this point. Or at least, he wasn't expecting her to fully understand, or remember anything he said. But this question did get him thinking aloud.

"Come to think of it," he didn't direct his words at her, but more in general, "he was acting sort of strange when I tried to talk to him this evening. And he did spend a lot of time in the bathroo-" Kurama stopped. His eyes grew wide as the correlation between what Botan had told him, and Hiei's time in the bathroom suddenly clicked.

"What? Like he had to PEE-PEE?" Again, she giggled almost uncontrollably. He sat for a minute, bewildered by the information he had just received from the girl who rested her head on his shoulder. A plan started to hatch in his head.

"So Botan," he paused for a second, "do you... want to do those things to him?" Silence. "Botan?" He looked down. She had passed out. He chuckled, touching his forehead with his fingers, "let's get you to bed."

*-*-*-*-*-*

There were voices, they seemed to be causing a sharp pain every time one of them spoke a word. Botan opened her eyes to a fine slit, her eyebrows were crammed together in pain. The bright sunlight that flooded into her ever-so-slightly cracked eyes just forced her to close them again. She groaned aloud.

"Are you alive?" Somehow she managed to open her eyes once more, searching out the source of the noise that caused excruciating pain in her head. Yukina and Keiko were crouched over her with concerned expressions.

"This one's out cold, too," Shizuru's voice came from across the room where Atsuko still slept soundly with her head on the table.

"What on Earth did you guys do? How much did you drink?" Keiko continued looking at Botan as if she was already dead. Botan only grumbled and rolled over to try and escape their intrusiveness.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Until next time, thanks for reading :D


	7. Candy for Your Troubles

Chapter 7 - Candy for Your Troubles.

Music recommendation: TLC - Baby Baby Baby

*-*-*-*-*-*

Kurama sat on the couch in their room, stretching and yawning. Interrupted sleep is the worst kind, he thought to himself. The sun flooded the room with an inspiring glow, unaware of the bloodshed that would commence the following day. Yusuke and the masked fighter were still missing. The lively sun light finally began to wake the others of Team Urameshi. Kuwabara was the first to awaken with an unsightly yawn and a stretch, scratching his head, looking around the room.

"Hey Kurama," the demon's vibrant green eyes shifted from the window, "what was all of that noise last night?"

"Oh, that was nothing to worry about Kuwabara," he said with a slight smirk. "Enjoy the time off while we have it," he relaxed his head back on the couch, resting his eyes.

"Yes Kurama, what was that noise last night?" Kurama's eyes peeled open again to see Hiei sitting up on the floor, awake, his small body basking in the morning sun. All seriousness was in Hiei's face. Apparently he had no idea after all. Kurama's eyes closed once more, a smirk now fixed on his face as the sight of Hiei reminded him of what Botan had confided in him. This smirk made Hiei want to wipe it off, because he knew the fox demon held something secret.

"Nothing at all," he heard the little demon get up and walk towards the door. Then there was another sound. The sloshing of liquid in a glass bottle. Kurama's eyes flung open.

"Nothing at all," Hiei repeated examining the sake bottle Kurama had forgotten all about. Hiei eyed Kurama suspiciously. Kurama chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"What do you say we get some fresh air," Kurama said getting up from his couch and heading towards the door, ignoring any questioning, suspicion, or mind reading that might occur.

"I'm not finished with you yet," Hiei said, watching Kurama walk past him, out of the door.

"I'll see you downstairs." He flashed a smile, closing the door behind him.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Botan found herself sitting in the lobby, waiting, trying not to look too suspicious. In reality, she probably drew more attention with her large dark sunglasses than anything else. It's not like it was a disguise. These sunglasses were for the purpose of blocking out the light. She was now nursing a severe hangover with only vague memories of having talked to Kurama the night before. This troubled her. If she couldn't even remember what had happened, how can she possibly account for anything she might have done? Did she go to see Hiei? Did she say something she shouldn't have? The questions alone made her sweat with worry. She was waiting for the one man who might have some answers. This is why she sat in the lobby watching the elevators for the slightest sign of red hair. Eventually Kurama stepped off the elevator with his hands in his pockets.

"Kurama," the girl rushed over waving, flashing a friendly smile. Kurama saw her nervously trying to interact, putting up a thinly veiled front of normality. The demon laughed to himself at her sunglasses which she wore indoors, and her overall demeanor. He thought this would be quite amusing. Botan paused, unsure of how to approach the issue, "can I talk to you?"

"Sure," he said smiling at her, his voice as friendly and reassuring as ever. They walked towards the door together, Kurama looking over at Botan just waiting to see what she was going to do.

"Here's the thing," she sounded so confident but then she stopped talking, trying to find a way to express her thoughts as indirectly as possible, while still having him understand.

"About last night?" He asked much to her relief.

"YES.. that is, you see, I uh, was up with Atsuko and we sort of," once more she paused.

"Drank?" She lowered her head in shame. Apparently she really had gone to talk to him.

"I'm afraid so," she sighed.

"Yes, I think I know," he smiled, returning his gaze to the path ahead of them. "I became suspicious of that when you came pounding on our door at 3 this morning." Fear struck Botan like a lightning bolt.

"Did I-uh," once more she was being evasive, "what exactly happened?" Her voice was quivering slightly in anticipation of the horror story she was sure he would tell her. He just laughed to himself, figuring that perhaps it was best if she didn't know all of the details.

"Nothing too terrible," again he sounded so reassuring, which lulled Botan into a false sense of security, "we just had a little talk, and then you went to sleep." This notion of a 'talk' alarmed her once more, considering she could have said anything.

"Really," the attempt to sound unconcerned was weak. She narrowed her eyes underneath her sunglasses, peering at him form the corner of her eye. "What about?" Kurama shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, not quite willing to come right out and repeat what she had told him. As hopeless as it seemed, somewhere deep inside she hoped that she had not mentioned anything about the Hiei situation.

"You told me what happened between you and Hiei," he was interrupted by the sound of Botan smacking herself on the forehead. He felt obligated to console her some way, "you didn't go into much detail," smiling over at her trying to make her feel better.

"This is a nightmare," she groaned, dragging her feet along as they approached a foot trail which lead into the forest.

"Botan," he stopped to look her directly in the, well, sunglasses, "how do you really feel about Hiei?"

*-*-*-*-*-*

Hiei stood on the elevator alone. He was determined to find out what Kurama was up to, because he had also developed a plan of his own. There was certainly something in store for the blue-haired girl. At first he had been surprised that she would harbor those kinds of thoughts for him. He also found much pleasure in pulling her strings, making her dance around her own feelings for the sake of etiquette. She was the puppet, and he, the master. He grinned to himself as he stepped off the elevator. It was a rush of excitement as he thought to himself that soon, soon he would bring this little game to an end. His play-toy would no longer have to worry about any kind of erotic fantasies. He immediately spotted Kurama standing near the lobby entrance, apparently waiting for him.

"Let's have a walk, shall we?" Kurama gestured towards the great outdoors once Hiei finally caught up to him.

"What are you scheming at, fox?"

*-*-*-*-*-*

Botan sat back in her room trying to shake her headache by consuming unheard of amounts of water. 2:26 is what the clock now read. The rest of the girls had planned to go out to the beach, but the way Botan felt at the moment prevented her from doing much more than laying down. Her stomached ached almost a much as her head, empty as it were. She was ashamed at how irresponsibly she had acted. And the searing pain in her stomach persuaded her to at least get up to forage for food somewhere in the room. In a bag on a nearby table, she didn't know whose, she found a foil of little chocolates. Not the best candy she'd ever had, she thought as she ate them by the twos. And why are they so small?

"Botan, are you going to be okay here by yourself? Because I can stay behind if you feel like you might need something;" Keiko called from the bathroom, still trying to get ready for the beach. All of the other girls had gone ahead of her.

"Oh, I'm just fine. You needn't worry about me Keiko," Botan smiled politely, even though Keiko couldn't see her.

"So Kurama said you didn't do anything so horrible? You shouldn't worry so much then, right?" She finally came stepping out of the bathroom, dressed in her swim suit, using her towel as a skirt. Botan sighed.

"I wish it were so simple, but I'm afraid that with Kurama's kind nature, he wouldn't tell me even if I had." When she looked over at Keiko she couldn't help but notice the strange look Keiko was giving her. Her eyebrows were knit together curiously.

"Botan, what are you eating?" Keiko drew closer to get a better look at the chocolates.

"Just these little chocolates I found," she said casually as she raised the last of them to her mouth.

"Those aren't chocolates," the shocked look on Keiko's face caused Botan's hand to freeze just in front of her mouth, "those are laxatives!"

*-*-*-*-*-*

Later that evening, Botan found herself once more walking with Kurama outside the hotel. She had almost fully recovered from the physiological aftermath of the night before. The new worry that plagued her was her 6-8 hour timeframe which was coming to a close. Kurama walked along so confidently, seemingly worriless, all the while Botan bit her bottom lip, looking up at him nervously.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Finally the silence was broken, "I mean, it's nice of you to try and help, but is this really the best way to approach it? And at this time?" She was trying to look for some sort of excuse to escape back to her room.

"It will be fine if you remember what I told you," he said supportively. "This seems to be a real problem for you, therefore, you have to do something about it. I can think of no better way." They came to a stop at a clearing not too close, yet not too far away from the back of the hotel. "Remember why you came here," he gave her one last look of support, and disappeared within the trees. She looked around, finding a seat on a nearby tree stump.

It actually was very nice of Kurama to try and help, and his idea was pretty good as well. But after having been to her lowest low just the night before, facing her problem was not what she was worried about. Her worries came in the form of the dainty chocolates that she had eaten an entire foil of earlier that afternoon. How could she have been so stupid? It was only a matter of time now before she would... The realization of this caused her to think that perhaps she should bug out. No one was even here, so surely running back to her room wouldn't be a big deal. Just then, a rusting of tree branches heralded the approach of Hiei, who stepped into the clearing. He was smirking at her, apparently pleasantly surprised to see her there.

"So this is what the fox was up to?" He stepped towards her, his hands hidden under his shirt. There was no bailing out now.

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Excited to see the next chapter? Bear with me folks, I try to get them up asap. ^^


	8. A Solution At Hand

Chapter 8 - A Solution At Hand.

Music recommendation: Emilie Autumn - Faces Like Mine

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Crickets provided the music for this arranged gathering. Botan returned back to her seat on the tree stump after rising only a few inches off of it. Something seemed a bit different about Hiei this evening. There was no longer a critical, or even tormenting air to his mannerisms, or the way he looked at her.

"Going somewhere?" Even his voice sounded less cold. Almost inviting, persuading her to stay.

"No," was all she managed, watching, a bit puzzled. He came within a few feet of her, and she found herself looking slightly up at him. What was it about him that felt so different?

"Just what are you and Kurama up to?" A fine grin spread over his face, his eyes narrowed. Her heart beat intensified, it was the way he looked at her. But she remembered what Kurama had told her about trying to keep her mind focused.

"I need to talk to you, Hiei," she couldn't take it anymore, and diverted her eyes to the ground. "You see, I think this whole thing needs to be addressed. I want you to understand." Her hands were tightly clasped on her knees. "I think you should know that... I-ah,"

"You what," he said very smoothly, his voice enchanting. She looked back up at him to see him tentatively watching her, examining her every movement.

"Well, I think this whole thing started because I was concerned about you. After the first round, my intention was to try and help you in any way I could." Trembling slightly, her temperature rose so sharply it seemed almost like it wasn't quite a reaction to the words she spoke. "I know you've had a history of being ruthless and cold-hearted, but despite that you came to my rescue. I guess it was as much of a surprise as it was a delight." She continued despite seeing him watching her, intrigued by what she had to say. His gaze felt like it saw her soul, "and even though you were a bit harsh to me about... that. I realized that I was even more concerned about you during the fights yesterday." She sighed now having to come out and admit the way she felt, "I guess it must be something that just happened, but," she looked to the ground once more, breaking into a light sweat, "I think I might, maybe, fancy you a bit." She fidgeted nervously, tapping her fingers on her knees. As though looking up to see his reaction would kill her, she continued watching the dead leaves on the ground. Unbeknownst to her, he grinned down at her, not shocked at her admission. He had known by the way she imagined herself being so close to him when she thought no one else was aware of it. Not the graphic scene she had imagined just for the purpose of 'shocking' him. But the sensual closeness, rather, which she exposed only to herself. It was this desire, which she wouldn't even admit to herself until now, which had caused him to take interest in her.

Before Botan could assess the situation, Hiei was crouching right next to her. His right hand was rested against her leg which was opposite of him. Her stomach knotted, and she could hear her own heartbeat as she stared at his hand. This wasn't a product of the imagination, it was actually happening. His face was now more solemn when he looked up into her eyes. There was a slight pain in her stomach which started to develop either from nerves, or something else. "What do you suggest we do about it?" This low, alluring voice in which he spoke, and the implication behind what he said made her even more nervous. It was like a weight dropped in her chest.

"D-do," she stammered, becoming rigid at Hiei's left hand which brushed her hair from her face.

"Or do I already know," Botan jumped when she felt Hiei's left hand run up the inside of her thigh. He drew his face in closer to hers, their lips almost touching. Internally she cursed herself for wearing shorts on this particular evening. "Is this what you want," now he was massaging her thigh. As invasive as his actions seemed, it was as though he already knew the answer to his own questions. Perhaps it was what she wanted, and that is why she almost welcomed it. It was like he knew just what to do to get closer to her without getting smacked.

"Uhh, is this really.. Isn't this a bit rushed," she was, though nervously, trying to be friendly at the same time. As though ignoring her words, Hiei started running his idle hand up her stomach, fingers creeping up over her...

"Is this how you wanted to thank me?" He whispered in her ear. A chill ran up her spine, and she found herself having to stifle a giggle. As much as she thought she shouldn't do this improper thing, she found herself enjoying it, unable to pull away.

Just then something went terribly wrong. Botan jumped up, backing away form Hiei. He looked very confused at her sudden retraction. The toilet was calling, forcing her to cut this engagement short. Not wanting to simply run off, she came up with a spur of the moment excuse, "Uhh, sorry, I've gotta go. Maybe some other time," little did Hiei know how literal this was. Botan tore out through the trees as he watched after her, lost. He didn't understand why she had gone from seemingly enjoying him to running off as though she was repulsed. He wondered if he hadn't done something wrong. After all, it had been quite some time for the little demon. His eyebrow raised in contemplation. Maybe, he thought to himself as he scratched his temple, a new method was in order. Meanwhile, Botan's only concern was whether or not she was going to make it in time. Desperation provoked her to eye the trees as possible pit stops, but she scolded herself, running faster to the hotel.

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The first things Botan awoke to the next morning were a miserable feeling all through her digestive system, and the sound of all the other girls getting ready. "We're headed to see the guys. Come on Botan, you're coming with us." In all reality Botan didn't protest to Keiko because she had mixed feeling about going to see Hiei. She was excited at the prospect of seeing Hiei once more after what had happened the night before. On the other hand, it ended in disaster and she didn't want to give any of the explanations she probably owed. It started raining heavily and the semi-finals were postponed, as Botan learned on her way down to see Team Urameshi. Botan tried to cheer up, focusing more one the positives than the negatives. Everyone was still alive, the horrors of the semi-finals would not be for a few more days, and there had at least been some good things that came out of talking to Hiei. On the elevator, Botan looked over at the bottles of alcohol Atsuko carried with a shudder.

"Hey! It's us!" Atsuko had perhaps sampled the alcohol already to make sure it wasn't poisoned. Botan joked in the back of her mind as she tried to be just as equally optimistic, if nothing else, for the sake of the guys' spirits.

"We've come to pay you visit!" She found being cheerful once more quite refreshing. Kurama looked at her with a thoughtful expression, while Hiei was perched in a corner looking cross as usual. She laughed aloud, clapping her hands in front of her, amused by how much things hadn't really changed. Once everyone sat down to play cards, she laughed even more at the way Hiei refused, insisting he doesn't like to play. She shook her head with a smile, thinking that what had happened the night before could have easily fallen under the category of 'playing'. But when no one else was looking and he pointed at her with a malicious grin, her expression became one of overt surprise. She tried to act as though she was interested in the card game, and Hiei laughed to himself. Still too frigid.

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Thanks to you all for continuing to read ^^ I know this was quite a short chapter *shame* but for some reason this particular chapter kicked my butt, and was difficult to write. Plus I didn't want to disappoint anyone and not have an update for the weekend. Please be patient with me: )


	9. Hiei's Plan

Chapter 9 - Hiei's Plan.

Music recommendation: Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song (beborn beton remix)

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After the girls left Team Urameshi's room they headed back to their room, with the exception of Botan, who stayed behind on the elevator. Down in the lobby, she wandered to the entrance to watch the gray rain. It looked so tranquil, cold and wet as it may have been. This rain mesmerized her. It was perhaps the first time these last few days that she had actually been able to sit worry-free, and think about the situation. She was so enveloped in thought that she didn't even realize Koenma standing behind her. He must have watched her a good three minutes before he made his presence known by clearing his throat.

"Oh, Koenma! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," she smiled, making a small bow. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I am using this tournament as an excuse to get away from all of that paperwork for a couple of days," the teen with the pacifier looked very reflective. "Perhaps it's not the best idea, since I know those ogres can't get a thing done without me. It'll probably all pile up and -"he stopped when he saw Botan giving him a strange look. Clearing his throat again, he continued, "Botan I wanted to have a little talk with you." She cringed slightly, fearing something was wrong, or worse, she was in trouble for something. He was clearly in lecture mode, his eyes shut, and finger held in the air as if to make a point. "You don't get to be my age without learning a thing or two about interpersonal relationships. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control, which cause us to do or feel things which we never would have expected. We call this 'fate,'" despite the pacifier in his mouth, he looked quite mature, radiating wisdom. "The best thing to do is not to try and defy fate, but rather to see where it leads us. Because we can't possibly know everything, we can't even trust ourselves to always know the best path to take." Botan blinked, but said nothing. "Well?"

"I'm sorry sir, was that directed at me?" Koenma's eyebrows knit together in slight frustration.

"Yes it was directed at you," still retaining a certain level of patience.

"I see. So you're saying that I shouldn't fight my urges to buy expensive clothes when they call to me from the store windows?" A dreamy look was in her eyes. Koenma looked even more frustrated, "I'm just kidding sir, I understand what you're saying. But how did you?"

"Let's just say Atsuko is about as good at keeping silent as Yusuke. Plus that little display at the tournament didn't exactly cover it up." Botan laughed at herself, realizing how transparent she had been, "Hiei is not the villain he once was. I must admit that he's changed considerably since he's been under Yusuke's influence." He paused for a moment, "don't worry, I'm sure you'll make the right decision." And with a tap on the shoulder, Koenma left her to her own thoughts.

"Sheesh, that was awfully creepy," she muttered under her breath through a grit-teeth smile, turning back to the window.

*-*-*-*-*-*

After being stuck inside all day, Botan had slowly but surely come to the decision that she wanted to see Hiei. She wanted to perhaps discuss what had happened the night before, and was eager to prod him for a further response. She wanted to know exactly what he planned to do about the situation, and how he felt about it. But at the same time, she didn't want to show up to the Urameshi room like a shameless hussy. At least Kuwabara had faith in her honor, and she didn't want to dash the image that her one fan had of her. Instead, she decided she would go for a walk in the rain. After all, there was not much else to do, and she was used to the freedom of flying around on her oar. Simply sitting in a hotel room wouldn't do.

Before Botan even knew what was going on, she realized Hiei kept popping up in her thoughts. No matter how serious her thoughts, be it about the tournament or something about spirit world business, it always came back to "I wonder what Hiei is doing" or "I wonder when I'm going to see Hiei." She also caught herself dissecting every thing he said to her, and every single gesture he made, trying to decipher the hidden meaning or motive behind it. Like when he pointed at her earlier; had he been reading her mind when she thought about him liking to 'play'? Does that mean he was saying he liked to 'play' with her? Did they have this kind of connection that they could communicate without speaking a word? She squealed at the thought, drawing the attention of curious onlookers in the lobby who thought perhaps she had just been possessed by a piglet. Maybe walking in the cold rain will be good for her, she thought looking out at the dark rainy night when she approached the entrance.

Despite the poor weather, it was a beautiful night. The moon still cast light which reflected off of all the puddles and rain droplets, making it seem like the forest was brimming with life and light. Under the canopy of trees, the rain became slightly more scarce. The trees acted almost as a natural umbrella, with a lot of holes in it of course. Botan had learned her lesson about wandering off in the woods at night, and tried to keep relatively close to the hotel to avoid becoming lost again. When she found a good spot, she took a seat at the base of a tree. She realized she hadn't quite thought that out as much as she should have when she felt cold, wet mud seeping through the seat of her pants. Dirty pants aside, she sat listening to the rain, the animals and insects which scurried through the night forest. It truly was a tranquil place. So tranquil, she thought, that she might just rest her eyes a bit in order to really concentrate on all the different sounds. Her head fell back against the tree, and she began to snooze.

Incoherent thoughts floated through her head for several minutes before she remembered that she was still out in the forest, and it was not entirely safe to sleep here. Her eyes jerked back open to see the same dark scene with splashes of water and blue light. She smiled at the peaceful place, but then realized she was a bit chilly. When she reach to zip up the front of her jacket, something pulled against her hands. She couldn't move them. She tugged spastically, only to find that in the few minutes she had dozed off, someone had tied her hands around the tree behind her. She tried to turn and see, but could only barely make out the rope that was knotted around her wrists. Panic set in as she tried leaning her whole body forward, pulling as hard as she could against the rope. She only succeeded in giving herself rope burn. Seeing that this wouldn't work, she looked around frantically. Whoever did this can't be far away, and certainly someone who would tie another person up in the middle of the woods cannot have good intentions. This was it, she thought. There was no way to escape, and the only person nearby to hear her was probably the psycho who tied her up.

She fought off the tears with anger. All the horrible scenarios of how this could end played out in her head, which caused her to try and fight harder against the rope. If only one of the team was nearby. Kuwabara would really show this jerk what's for. Or maybe Hiei...

"You called?" The little demon stepped from behind a nearby tree, his arms hidden in his shirt. Botan squinted in the dark, but from this distance could not make out his expression, though his tone sounded flat. Calm.

"Hiei! Untie me, some weirdo-" Hiei was crouching at her side before she could even see that he had moved.

"Why would I do that? I was having so much fun watching you struggle," his fingers pushed the hair from her face which had become matted with rain. Her jaw dropped open.

"Did you," he pressed his lips against her ear. He spoke just above a whisper.

"You make such a cute face when you're afraid," she could hear the grin in his words. Her jaw dropped even more when she realized Hiei was the one who had tied her to the tree. But despite this realization, she didn't scream or panic; her only reaction was shock.

"Why did you-" one of his hands held her head in place while he rubbed his face against her hair. She could hear him smelling her like an animal, and then releasing a sigh of satisfaction.

"I can't have you running off on me again. You won't be going anywhere this time." At this point, when most people would have started screaming regardless, Botan did not. She sat still trying to comprehend this feeling his words gave her. It's almost like she was excited by it. "You're too frigid," his mouth still very close to her ear, making his whisper sound very loud, "you'll never do the things you desire. Allow me to remedy this problem."

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And that concludes this chapter. Sorry for the delay folks, but I are lazy . Hope you all are enjoying the story so far ^^


	10. That's Not in the Brochure

Chapter 10 - That's Not in the Brochure.

A warning to all ye faire viewers: this chapter contains mature content. Music recommendation: Combichrist - Tractor, Miss Construction - Lunatic

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The first sensation Botan felt was that of a slightly uncomfortable pulling in her hair. Hiei was undoing her ponytail, not very sensitive to the fact that some of her hair was caught around the band which held it in place. She winced, tensing her face in discomfort. Her blue hair fell down behind her shoulders, she watched the ground on the side of her Hiei was not crouched at. For some reason, she was unsure of what to do, or how to respond if she did look at him. However, she could not escape seeing him, because he then positioned himself in front of her. Kneeling over her outstretched legs, she couldn't help but look at him as he loomed over her, casting his shadow on her. He leaned in towards her, running his fingers over each of her shoulders, clearing away her jacket as best as could be done. She could hear his slow, easy breathing against her ear while she wondered exactly what he was going to do with her arms tied around the tree behind her. She actually found the nerve to smile at herself as if he had thwarted his own plans by forcing her into this most awkward position. His fingers ran up through her hair, close to her scalp, before he clutched a handful of it. The sudden pain made Botan yelp. He didn't let up, and instead used her hair to pull her head back. Her neck was barred when he turned his face towards her and began to kiss. Her skin barely retained any warmth fully exposed to the cool air and raindrops which still sprinkled the occasion. The pain of his fingers clasped in her hair made it difficult to enjoy the sensation of his hot mouth embracing her cold skin like a comforting flame.

Tears rolled down the sides of her face at the persistent pain of Hiei pulling her hair to make her neck accessible. To try and reduce the strain on her hair, she leaned her head back toward his pull, bending to his will. Her eyebrows were knit together as this odd mixture of pain and comfort made her wanted to cry, but at the same time she wanted it to continue. This wasn't right what he was doing, yet she didn't fight it. She almost couldn't tell when Hiei had removed his fingers from her hair because of the throbbing she still felt on her scalp. The steady flow of kisses which now incorporated little licks and nips had not alluded to the fact that his hands were now busying themselves with a new task. There was a ripping noise and a rush of cold air against her chest. The sound of Hiei tearing the front of her t-shirt open. She pressed her back against the tree, desperate for some sort of comfort against the cold vulnerability she now felt. He removed his mouth from her neck to grin down at her, drinking in her mixed emotions. He slid his thumbs under her bra straps and eased them just off of her shoulders.

The warm trail Hiei's tongue made when it slid down to her cleavage quickly turned cold when exposed to the chill air. As his hands wrapped her waist in a comforting relief of warmth, his mouth gorged between her breasts. She groaned as she welcomed the sensual hands which slid up her waist. He squeezed on her breasts, pushing them up, taking mouthfuls of each as they started to swell over the top of her bra. Her mouth formed an almost silent 'aah' as her back arched toward him, clinging to his heat. It was almost as though his plan to expose her to the elements was to draw her in closer. It tore down her resistance, for she felt she had no other choice but to embrace the violation. She began to feel lost in a sense of hopelessness, but at the same time the trust and confidence of being totally in his hands.

There was a sudden jerk, it pulled Botan forward into an awkward position. Sitting on her tailbone, shoulders now strained, she looked down to find her pants missing. Hiei knelt between her slightly parted legs looking down at her almost completely exposed body. He peered up at her without any sign of emotion on his face just before he shoved her legs into a bent position, her knees pushed up towards her shoulders. He pressed his body against her legs to keep her in this vulnerable position. She couldn't help but feel a little ashamed by suddenly being exposed like this, in such a miserable setting. But the tickle of his fingers running down her thighs, down toward her panties, was just enough to keep her from screaming. His thumbs pressed underneath the edges of her panties until they reached her damp lips.

"How would you like it if someone saw you like this," he said in a low voice, stripping away any sense of security she might have had. Just when Botan thought he couldn't make her feel any worse, he did. She wanted to scream at him, she wanted to call him all of the nasty names she felt he deserved. Until she felt his thumbs start to rub her sensitive lips. She had already gotten slightly wet from his mouth being buried in her cleavage, so Hiei's thumbs slid along easily, smoothly. Sometimes going in the same direction, sometimes not, he lulled her anger with pleasure. He enjoyed toying with her, she was so easy to manipulate. He leaned in closer to her face, watching her docile expression, her rosy cheeks. "You'd probably let anyone do this," before she could protest, he started rubbing her clitoris in a small circle with a single thumb. He chuckled to himself out of sheer amusement. She said nothing, but looked up at him with an angry face which helped stifle the moan she now so desperately wanted to release. With his free hand, which he removed from her panties, he grabbed the front of her bra only to tear it open. She wanted to shiver, maybe from the cold, the penetrating presence which was so close to her, or the intense pleasure she derived from Hiei's thumb as it circled through her cream.

Hiei rested his free hand on her waist to steady himself as he leaned down to take her left nipple into his mouth. He sucked and released her nipple, doing it again and again. His mouth was so soft and warm against her cold skin, she could no longer hold back a single, passionate moan. A small defeat on her part, as he had once more forced her to do something she didn't want to do after what he had said. She didn't want him to know that despite her anger, he was still driving her wild. Another ripping noise, and a downward pull. Botan opened her eyes from her euphoria to see that Hiei had now ripped her panties off. He held them to his face, smelling them, rubbing the delicate lacey material against his cheek, apparently lost in a euphoria of his own. His ruby eyes set on her once more as the panties disappeared into the folds of his shirt, placed away for a later time. He now had unhindered access to her moist folds, so he now ran his middle finger the full length of her slit. Botan couldn't suppress the impulse to moan any longer. As Hiei's finger massaged her, up and down with an occasional circle or two, she had to groan. He grinned down at her, watching her twitch and gasp as the touch of his finger. The cold, the shame, the vulnerability didn't matter anymore. Biting her bottom lip she thought she liked this feeling. Hiei could say or do whatever he wanted to degrade her, but she wanted more of this feeling.

Hiei removed his finger, and released her legs enough to allow her toes to touch the ground. Once more she opened her eyes, this time craving more of his skillful touches. He had moved down further, his body no longer blocked the moonlight from Botan's view. The next thing she felt was the tip of Hiei's tongue ghosting over her wet pussy lips. She gasped, arching her back. She was both shocked at what he was doing, and caught off guard by how good it felt. His lips planted one tiny little kiss on hers before he used his fingers to hold them apart. With short, light strokes, he flicked his tongue up and down her clitoris. Her back arched, the intensity of it was too much. Her eyebrows tensed and she bit on her bottom lip, pulling against the rope that still bound her hands. She wasn't sure she would be able to hold on very long. The cold, the rain, the pain in her strained shoulders, all this seemed to go away as she focused on the fluid motion of Hiei's tongue through her slit. He never let up. His next ornamental suck on her clitoris is what finally sent her over the edge. She screamed with pleasure when orgasm finally hit her like a wave. Her whole body tensed, and a ramble of praise for Hiei's skill escaped her lips. She was agreeing absolutely, with what she was unsure, but she was for it.

One she finally settled back down, her body felt like pudding that would just blend in with the ground beneath her. Her hair was heavily dampened, and she once more started to realize how cold the air was, though her body was hot and her peach still throbbed. She sighed aloud as she curled up as best she could, beginning to shiver. Hiei now stood above her, but she hadn't the nerve to look up at him. After a short silence, her senses now returning to her, she started thinking about how this would go from here. She was unsure.

"You really shouldn't go into the forest alone," Hiei said catching her off guard. A certain mischievous tone was in his voice. Suddenly Botan's arms fell to the ground causing quite a bit of pain. He had cut the rope, and her shoulders were very stiff from having been tied behind her for so long. She rolled over, still not quite able to stand, and saw that Hiei was gone. She was a bit angered by this, but then realized that perhaps getting clothed was more of a priority at this time. The only clothes Hiei hadn't ripped or made off with were her jacket and pants, so she relied on these to try and hide what had happened. On her way back to the hotel she had a wealth of nagging feelings. She felt a bit used, ashamed, worried about having to face Hiei again. Even though she had very confused emotions about what had just happened, she walked at a leisurely pace towards the hotel with a smile on her face.

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Excited to see the next chapter? I can understand if you want to throw eggs at me for taking so long to write this one. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't be afraid to tell me what you think ^^


	11. One Missing Botan

Chapter 11 - One Missing Botan.

Music recommendation: Psycho le Cemu - Roman Hikou

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Despite the rainy conditions that would ruin most hair styles, Hiei's still spiked up hair did not give away the fact he had been outside. In fact, one might not have even guessed it when he coolly waltzed into the room of Team Urameshi. The only real giveaway was his wet shirt which he promptly removed in silence. As many nights before, Kuwabara and Kurama sat idly paying Hiei little mind when he entered the room. It was not uncommon for him to go out, so Kurama and Kuwabara were none the wiser. Hiei retreated to the bathroom, presumptuously to dry off. This reminded Kurama of the previous night he had spoken to Botan, and though he was moderately suspicious of what Hiei might actually be up to, he decided not to think about it. In fact, he would have gone back to reading his magazine without a second glace if something hadn't caught his eye. There amidst the crumpled black mass of Hiei's shirt, which he had carelessly thrown on the floor, was a small spot of pink.

The color its self coming from anything of Hiei's drew Kurama's eye as a child might be attracted to a "free candy" sign. Kurama blinked a couple of extra times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Surely enough, some sort of pink material peeked out from somewhere within Hiei's shirt. The demon had a silent battle with himself about whether or not he should poke around in Hiei's business. As he stared even harder from across the room, slowly but surely the curiosity in him won. With a quick, yet cautious glance toward the bathroom door, Kurama jumped up from his seat and tip-toed over to Hiei's shirt. He crouched down over the wet garment, peering around as if he were partaking in some sort of top-secret espionage mission. To be discovered meant death. Or at least having an awkward moment with Hiei, which would probably end in death. Or at least something unpleasant.

"What are you doing, Kur-" before Kuwabara could finish his sentence, Kurama raised his finger to his lips as a gesture for silence. Kuwabara was now part of the mission. Showing the utmost caution, ready to spring back to his former seat at the drop of a dime, Agent Kurama reached for the suspicious material. With thumb and index finger, he carefully lifted the material from its hiding place. The more he pulled out the wider his eyes grew, until he held a pair of lacey, ravaged, pink panties in the air, while his jaw fell heavy to the floor. The two of them didn't know what to make of it at fist. "Woah! What is-" Once more Kurama pressed his finger to his lips and Kuwabara slapped his hands over his mouth. Once more, this time in an unsuccessful whisper, "is he," he pointed towards the bathroom, "you know... Wearing those?" Kurama smacked his forehead at this question.

"Although I normally wouldn't be so quick to dismiss any possibilities, I think we can be fairly certain he got these from someone, Kuwabara." Kuwabara's face morphed into a twisted Cheshire grin that Urameshi himself would have been proud of.

"You mean," Kuwabara trying to speak through a flood of stifled giggles, "from a _girl? _Hiei..." Unable to control himself, Kuwabara burst out in loud, obnoxious laughter. Kurama quickly stuffed the panties back into Hiei's shirt and resumed his seat on the couch to avoid having his mission exposed by Kuwabara's uncontrollable laughter. While Kuwabara rolled on his bed, face red from laughter, Kurama couldn't help but cast a slightly worried look towards the bathroom in which Hiei now resided. Did he hurt Botan?

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The next day, the day before the semifinals of the tournament were to take place, Kurama awoke fairly early. He had had a fitful night of sleep, because he'd been quite worried about Botan. He tried to pacify himself by convincing himself that Hiei would never harm one of Koenma's underlings, but he wasn't so sure of this himself. The human in him felt compelled to go make sure something hadn't happened to her, so one of the first things he did that morning was go to the girls' room.

"You mean you don't know where she is either?" Keiko was still groggy standing at the door in her pajamas. Perhaps, Kurama thought, he was a bit too early, "I think she was hanging around the lobby yesterday, but she didn't come back last night." Kurama grimaced at Keiko's words which she could not have possibly guessed would cause him to worry even more.

"I see. I'm sorry to have bothered you," he bowed slightly and walked away, not leaving Keiko time to question him.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Kurama entered the Urameshi room displaying the utmost composure. If he was going to get any answers out of Hiei, he could not show any sign of weakness. Hiei was unconcerned with Kurama's return as he meditated near the window. Kurama took a seat across from him on the sofa, not unlike the seating arrangement they had been in the night this whole ordeal began. The only difference now was that Botan was missing, and instead of being an impartial observer, Kurama was not a detective. He broke Hiei's concentration by clearing his throat. Hiei opened his eyes looking slightly irritated at the red-head's disruption. "I ran into Keiko," he began with a lie, "she mentioned that she hadn't seen Botan." He analyzed Hiei's reaction very closely as he lead into an inconspicuous interrogation.

"What's your point?" Hiei was just as equally composed. Kuwabara, who listened in, was completely unaware of the subtle conversation which lurked just underneath the surface of their words. Kurama shrugged coolly.

"It's just a bit odd is all," he looked out the window so as not to give away his suspicions by staring too critically. "After all, she was just here yesterday," he paused for a second trying to pull this next line off just right, "wonder where she could be." He had just the right amount of passivity in this question. He withdrew from the clueless act temporarily.

"How should I know," a curious mixture of irritation and amusement in his withdrawn response. Kurama picked up a magazine making a noise as if he was pretending to think the situation over. Almost as if on cue, the genuinely oblivious Kuwabara chimed in.

"You mean no one's seen Miss Botan since yesterday?" Kurama was almost thankful for the big oaf, because now it gave him an avenue to stay on this topic without seeming too obvious.

"Apparently. Keiko said she never came back last night." Kurama spared a passing glance over the magazine he was pretending to read to catch a glimpse of surprise in Hiei's reaction. This in its self was a shock to Kurama, but Hiei quickly regained his composure. Then with false enlightenment, "hey Hiei, you went out yesterday. Did you see her?" Once the final word came out, Kurama internally kicked himself as if to say 'holy balls, I just ruined it.' Hiei glared at him.

"Why would I have seen her," calling the final game over on Kurama's plot.

"I don't know, just asking," Kurama was at least trying to salvage his innocent front on his involvement in the whole situation.

"I wouldn't care where that girl is, fox," Hiei got up suddenly as if in his own world, answering a question that had not been asked. Once he was out of the room and safely out of earshot, Kurama just shook his head.

"He knows something," Kuwabara suddenly shot up, the accusation and all of the evidence suddenly clicking together for him, now that the interrogation was over.

"Do you think he did something to Miss Botan!?" He was in a bit of a frenzy.

"Calm down Kuwabara. We can't jump too any conclusions." He thought earnestly about what he should do.

"Maybe we should follow him? What if he sold her to Team Toguro?" Kuwabara was half thinking aloud, letting his paranoia run amuck at this point," If he did that, there would be no reason for him to lead us to her. That bastard!" Kurama eyes him in wonder of the ridiculously nonsensical explanation for Botan's disappearance. He thought of patronizing Kuwabara by asking 'why would he sell her,' or 'how much do you think he got for her' as if he was buying into Kuwabara's nonsense. Ultimately he decided against this.

"If we want to find out where Botan is, we have to pursue other avenues." Kuwabara discontinued his ranting and plots to bust up Hiei to hear Kurama's idea. "We can't just assume Hiei had something to do with her disappearance. We should ask around first. Maybe someone else knows something."

*-*-*-*-*-*

Sorry for the short, long-delayed update folks. Hopefully now that I have some direction with this piece, there will be another faster, longer update. ^^


	12. Investigation Gone Awry

Chapter 12 - Investigation Gone Awry

Music recommendation: Polysics - I Me My Mine

*-*-*-*-*-*

"So we know none of the girls have seen her, but from them we have established that she must have gone missing some time last night," Kurama reasoned as they stood in the elevator. "We should try asking some of the lobby attendants if they saw her." At the front desk they approached a demon with a mostly human-like appearance. "Excuse me, we're looking for a young girl. She has blue hair, and may have been here in the lobby some time last night. Have you seen her, or do you know if she ever went back to her room?" The attendant thought for a moment.

"Blue hair, huh," he tapped a single index finger on his chin, "oh! You mean that drunk girl I saw with you the other night?" Kurama was taken aback, and Kuwabara suddenly took up an offensive pose.

"D-drunk!?!?"

"Yeah," the attendant addressed Kuwabara politely, "she could barely even stand on her own two feet." He turned back to Kurama slyly, leaning one elbow on the reception desk, "didn't you two head outside?" Kuwabara's head almost exploded, but Kurama waved his hands in front of him laughing nervously.

"It's not what you think," a single sweat drop accumulated on Kurama's temple. "So did you see her?"

"Don't try to play this off! What does he mean, drunk?" Kuwabara held his fist close to Kurama's head as he was so conspicuously ignored.

"Well I did see her about mid evening. She had been hanging around the lobby most of the day, but about mid evening, she went outside. Come to think of it, I don't think I did see her come back in."

"Hm, did she talk to anyone, or did anyone go out with her?"

"Hey! Don't ignore me, I'm talking!" Kuwabara shouted in the background of this conversation.

"Let's see," the attendant said stopping to think, "a young man with a pacifier approached her a little earlier in the evening," he said thoughtfully.

"That must have been Koenma," Kurama said casually to Kuwabara, who was still fired up at the prospect of Kurama taking an intoxicated Botan out somewhere.

"Oh, and there was a man who went out not that far behind her, but I couldn't tell if he was following her or anything like that."

"What did he look like?" Kurama asked, sensing a lead in their case.

"He was really short, dressed in all black. I'm pretty sure I've seen him here before with your group, so I thought nothing of him." This put a stop to Kuwabara's angry ranting.

"Hiei! That bastard! He DID do something to Miss Botan!" This of course drew unwanted attention from all of the other guests in the lobby.

"Kuwabara," Kurama said turning to him in a calm voice, "next time you want to yell something like that... don't." The fox demon sighed. Kuwabara's face turned blue when he clamped down on his mouth, noticing the other people starting at him like a guy in a crocodile pit with a loaf of bologna tied around his neck. "Perhaps we should check around for more clues."

"Are you kidding me? You heard him, Hiei followed Botan out last night! That must have been her unmentionables Hiei had." Kuwabara slammed his fist on the reception desk, creating an extra dramatic affect. "I won't forgive him if he soiled her honor!" Before Kuwabara could finish his chivalrous declarations, he was being pulled away by his ear.

*-*-*-*-*-*

After a short walk outside and one ear reattachment for Kuwabara, Kurama released him to take a good look around. It was still raining heavily and people had been walking in and out of the hotel, so following footprints would have been nearly impossible. Just then the fox demon's eyes stopped on the door attendants standing under the shelter of the front entrance. He approached the least angry looking one, "excuse me, have you been on shift all morning?" The attendant looked at him strangely, unsure as to why someone would randomly ask him such a thing.

"Yes, I've been on shift since late last night," he replied eyeing Kurama mischievously. The attendant's expression began to give Kurama the creeps, and he suddenly began to think that perhaps he would have been better off asking the meaner looking one. Even Kuwabara stared blankly at the attendant, sensing a strange vibe from him.

"Did you see a young girl with blue hair leave here yesterday evening?" Almost instantly the attendant replied.

"Yes, I did," he hissed, suddenly dawning a creepy grin. Kuwabara stiffened as a cold chill ran up his spine at the attendant's strange manner. Perhaps Hiei wasn't the only one to consider in the abduction of Miss Botan. "She went into the forest, and she didn't come back out," he said in a way that would have best suited a flashlight being shown on his face from below for extra eerie shadowing, "I figured the little fella that followed her had something to do with it." The attendant's gruff voice combined with the lip licking grin nearly drove both boys away.

"Little fella?" Kuwabara asked with much hesitation in his voice, yet still on a quest for Hiei's head. The demon gestured toward the forest,

"You just missed him," they each looked at each other momentarily before rushing off towards the woods.

"That HAS to be Hiei!" Kuwabara proclaimed as they ran trying to pick up the trail. Kurama maintained his composure,

"It certainly does seem that way. But what would he be doing going back in this direction?" No sooner did he begin to consider this that he grabbed Kuwabara's shoulder and pulled him behind a nearby tree. When Kuwabara looked at him as if to question what he was doing, Kurama pointed to a clearing no more than twenty feet away. There stood Hiei, holding what looked like a cut rope. He was examining the area as if looking for something. Clearly someone had been held there, probably against their will, and it would seem as if Hiei knew about it considering how quickly he had found this spot and the fact that he was bothering to examine it. But if Hiei was responsible, why return to the scene? And what was he looking for? Before Kurama had time to thoroughly think this over, he looked over to see a big empty spot where Kuwabara was supposed to be hiding.

"There you are you vile creep!" It seemed evident to Kurama that Kuwabara had decided to take the way of direct confrontation. "What did you do with Miss Botan?" He yelled pointing very rudely at Hiei as Kurama rushed over.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei said turning his nose. In attempts to force a confession, Kurama decided to back Kuwabara's accusations.

"I think what Kuwabara means is everyone we talked to at the hotel saw you follow Botan yesterday, and now you're here looking around at," he paused to crouch and pick up a discarded girl's hair scrunchie from the mud, "the scene of a kidnapping, perhaps?" Kurama eyed the hair tie as he held it in the air, trying to be as discreet as possible in the way he addressed this issue. He was hoping to all things holy that Kuwabara wouldn't mention the panties. Hiei looked to the ground for a second, thinking carefully about how to handle the situation. Kuwabara opened his mouth to speak, but found himself getting a dose of Kurama-smack flavored lip balm.

"Not that it's any of your business," Hiei said seemingly addressing the tree he stood by, "but I... I was just looking... I though I'd try to find," he mumbled as he tried to avoid saying this incredibly terrible thing aloud. "I'm looking for the girl. She is associated with this team, and who knows what these other creatures around here might do to someone like her. "There was something strange about the way he said this, but Kurama had a difficult time placing his finger on it since Hiei had his face almost completely turned away. Whhat Kurama did have his fingers on, he suddenly realized, were Kuwabara's slobbery teeth as they had become exposed when he formed a big stupid grin. Kurama quickly snatched his hand away, staring at the spitty thing with twitching eye.

"So you WERE worried about Miss Botan, and you came out to look for her?" Kuwabara couldn't have possibly said this in a more ridiculous tone. "That whole story form the hotel staff must have just been a coincidence," he smacked Kurama on the back reassuringly. Kurama just looked back at him with a peculiar expression. "Ya know Hiei, for such a big jerk, you sure are a sensitive guy." Hiei shot Kuwabara a lazer-death stare while he chuckled to himself in a fit of relief.

"Aren't you a bit easily convinced?" Yet at the same time, Kurama didn't want to remind Kuwabara of the suspicious item they had found the day before. He figured it best to play along with Hiei's story for now in order to uncover the truth.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Sorry for the overly-drawn-out update you guys, I've been busy with a lot of things the last couple of months ^^;;; Now that I've gotten over a bit of a rough patch in the story line, I hope to make regular updates once more. Thanks to everyone for hanging in there and continuing to read 3


	13. Surprise Visitor

Chapter 13 - Surprise Visitor.

Music recommendation: Jonathan Coulton - Code Monkey

*-*-*-*-*-*

On their trip back to the hotel after a brief and unsuccessful search for any more clues out in the woods, Kurama couldn't help but eye Hiei. He was too calm about the whole situation, and there's no way he'd make the special effort to go searching for Botan. There must have been another piece to the puzzle, and for that matter, he thought, what became of the other day when he arranged for them to meet up behind the hotel? An even more suspicious Kurama-eye was directed at Hiei when he wondered about this.

"What." Hiei said returning Kurama's weird-eyed stare with a half cocked eyebrow.

"What did happen a couple of nights ago?" He was intentionally trying to keep Kuwabara out of the loop this time to avoid any unnecessary gorilla-like flare-ups. It was bad enough trying to get information out of Hiei without Kuwabara beating his chest in search of his pilfered bananas. Only the bananas were a girl.

"What business is it of yours?" Kurama just sighed finally feeling as though pressing him for information was hopeless. "You needn't wonder Kurama," if Kurama had been in his fox form, his ears would have suddenly perked up, sensing something of interest was about to come out of Hiei's mouth, "if you were a girl in trouble, I wouldn't help you." Hiei returned his stare ahead of them, which made it difficult to determine that this was a joke Hiei had just told. Kurama just stared at him with one eye wide and one twitching furiously, until he almost ran into the doorway of the hotel entrance.

"So Kurama's not your type then, Hiei?" Kuwabara snickered to himself, apparently not sensing how close to death that remark put him. "I dunno, I'd help any girl in trouble," Kuwabara used his fingers in a framing gesture, sizing up Kurama, "even if she was a little rough around the edges..."

"Excuse me," this call from the reception desk diverted Kurama's attention from the Hiei-badgering. Kurama made his way over, fearing whatever was at the end of Kuwabara's thought. "I almost forgot," the receptionist said when Kurama arrived closely followed by the other two, "that kid with the pacifier was back down here last night, but it was quite a bit after the blue haired girl left, so I don't know if that helps. Maybe you could ask him if he saw her while he was out?"

"Since Hiei doesn't seem to know anything," Kurama paused to give Hiei a glance that was appreciated about as much as chunky milk, "I guess this is our best lead. Do either of you know where to find Koenma?" His fellow investigators were silent.

The three of them tried asking around into the early afternoon, but there seemed to be no trace of the elusive baby-teen. All reports of Botan seemed to end with the evening before as well. Though Kuwabara had become complacent with Hiei after he claimed to also be searching for Botan, Kurama remained suspicious. Despite this, the trail went cold, and they eventually had no choice but to call off their search for that day and focus on the upcoming semi-finals.

*-*-*-*-*-*

The next day, Team Urameshi continued on to the semi-finals. Each of them had their own worries, and Yusuke and the Mask were nowhere to be found. But in Kuwabara's first battle of the semi-finals, he was in for more of a shock than he thought when he found himself transported to the arena of the previous matches. He sat in the old arena dumbfounded, searching around, trying to get his bearings.

"I know this place... The stadium?" He looked quite puzzled.

"WHAT!!!" The volume of this exclamation alone nearly knocked Kuwabara over. He looked over to see a bug-eyed group of girls.

"Kuwabara, what are you doing here?" Shizuru was the only calm-looking one of the bunch. Of course Shizuru rarely showed any sign of emotion, Kuwabara thought, even during that one incident some years back involving pancakes, and Kuwabara catching on fire in his underwear. Seeing someone appear out of thin air was no big deal.

"You just fell from the sky!!" Said a slightly more impressed Atsuko. Almost immediately he keyed in on Yukina like a dog just released from the pound during mating season.

"Miss Yukina and her friends!" Kuwabara didn't take notice of his sister while she grumbled a comment about not being acknowledged. "But Miss, what are you doing here?" He was suddenly over the shock of being magically teleported to the old stadium, and losing his match.

"We mistook the stadium," she seemed more puzzled by his sudden boisterous behavior.

"I'm lucky to find you like this then!" And after being reminded of his losing match, and a brisk beating by Shizuru, Kuwabara opted to guide them to the matches. Once they were on their way, Kuwabara finally noticed that Botan was with them, "Miss Botan, where have you been?" He frantically shook her by the shoulders as if she had just been mysteriously brought back form the dead. Or at least brought him a delicious sandwich.

"Oh, I was called away to take care of some business," she scratched the back of her head with an abashed look on her face, clearly flattered by the concern of her one fan.

"You had us all really worried," he said finally able to sigh with relief. Botan looked confused.

"'Us'?" The other girls certainly had not seemed worried, as they were all sitting around idly when she returned. Atsuko had even asked her to fetch a soda first thing, as if she had been there the whole tome.

"Yeah. Kurama, Hiei, and I were all out looking for you because we heard you hadn't returned." As he spoke of his noble deeds, he began to look as though he was posing for a statue being made in his honor. Botan's eyes widened as if Kuwabara has once more fallen out of mid air.

"Hiei!? Looking for me," she pointed at herself in mellow disbelief, as if he may have been talking about a different Botan.

"That's what I thought at first, too, because everyone at the hotel said they saw him follow you out. Plus the night you went missing," his obnoxious voice suddenly got quieter at the sensitive nature his following statement, "when he came back Kurama and I found panties in his pocket." Botan's face suddenly froze and her complexion almost instantly transformed from fair to red. Her eyes squint, and her lips parted in something that resembled a forced smile, revealing clenched teeth. All of the other girls' eyes instantly focused on her with expressions ranging from shock to "please do tell." All except Yukina, who was still trying to follow Kuwabara's story, unaware that the answer to the mystery was right in front of her. Botan suddenly burst into a loud, artificial laughter that even made Kuwabara look at her strangely.

"HA HA HA! Panties, HA! How silly."

"I know, it must have been from someone else, because when we followed him out the next day, he said he was looking for you. Even found some place that looked like someone had been tied up there."

"YES! That's exactly what must have happened! HA HA! That Hiei sure is helpful, isn't he? REALLY not such a bad guy!" She said this all as if talking really loud would blind those who got it from the truth of the matter.

"Some other girl, hm? I didn't know Hiei had it in him," Atsuko snickered flashing Botan a patronizing smirk.

"I'm sure the others will be glad to know you're okay." Botan laughed nervously along with Kuwabara, trying to act as normal as possible.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Botan was grateful for the crowd and distractions of the semi-finals to avoid any awkward interrogation. For this very reason, she snuck out of the arena just as soon as the final match came to a close. She was most likely the first to arrive back at the hotel, and she sat in the lobby waiting for everyone else to show up. During her wait she thought about what Kuwabara had told her about the three of them looking for her. What bothered her the most were the details about the mysterious panties, and Hiei leading them to a place that looked like someone had been held captive there. Kuwabara may have been a bit of a dunce, but Kurama could have very well figured it out. Her face turned bright red at the thought of Kurama suspecting what had happened. It was bad enough that Koenma...

"Botan?" The hand which touched her shoulder startled a squeak from the reaper, "sorry, I'm glad to see you are unharmed." Kurama smiled politely at her.

"Oh yes, Kuwabara told me that you guys looked for me. I appreciate your concern," she took a small bow of gratitude.

"Hm," the fox crossed his arms looking at her thoughtfully. This made her avert her eyes, with the thought of what he probably knew in the back of her mind, "I think there's someone you should probably see."

*-*-*-*-*-*

This was mentioned a few times in comments so I thought I'd address this for those of you wondering. I am going by the manga, so at this point, Yusuke and the Masked fighter were training (so said to avoid spoilers as much as possible). They didn't actually show back up until midway through the semi-finals.


	14. A Solemn Moment

Chapter 14 - A Solemn Moment.

I just thought I'd throw one of these in here at some point, so, spoiler alert to anyone who hasn't read the Dark Tournament segment of YYH. Enjoy ^^ Music recommendation: Mario - Just a Friend

*-*-*-*-*-*

For the first time since arriving for the tournament, Botan wandered into the forest surrounding the hotel in daylight. It was definitely a different place, she thought looking around. No unseen monsters, no hazardous stumbling in the dark... No being tied to trees by sexual predators. It's truly amazing what a lack of illumination will do. Kurama had only pointed her in a general direction towards her destination, as they had apparently split up after the matches. Why exactly was she headed this way again?

The moment she cleared the brush, the small demon paused in his training. Not that she was trying to sneak up on him, but she found the difficulty of this quite remarkable. She stopped at the edge of the clearing with her arms interlocked behind her back; this was the first time she had faced him since the incident a few a nights before. There was an understandable feeling of mild embarrassment.

"I already know what they told you, but don't get too flattered." Hiei finally turned to face her only to see that she seemed to be preoccupied with ground watching.

"Don't worry, I know you don't actually care about anything," she smiled politely as she finally lifted her eyes to meet his. Red and fierce as they were, she fancied for a moment that there may have been the smallest ounce of tacit relief to finally see her unharmed. Hiei took a seat on a nearby tree stump, arms resting on his knees. He observed her very carefully. "so I guess next is the finals," she bridged the gap between them by only a few feet. Biting her bottom lip, she also observed him as he sat calmly, his skin glistened slightly in the sun, and his back and shoulder muscles were particularly pronounced in the way he sat.

"Yes," he said in a tone that mimicked hesitation or suspicion. "And?"

"Weeelll," Botan was definitely hesitant as she spoke, approaching him just a little bit more. She was distracted by how appealing he was for some reason as he rested from his training looking up at her, his body draped over, and his hands rough and bandaged as they hung from his wrists. "Uhm," Hiei got up and walked over beside her, but she hadn't even noticed because she had been too busy digging the toe of her shoe into the dirt. "I was just thinking maybe.. Eeek!" The sudden realization that he had moved when she finally looked back up gave her a start. Hiei chuckled at her as one usually does when they pull off a devious prank.

"You were thinking..." He probed. She watched her own index fingers as she pushed them together in that same timid way she had the evening this ordeal began. She could feel his eyes scanning her, but she didn't dare to ogle him at this distance.

"You mean you didn't guess it already?" She asked just barely looking over at him. Her face was burning up, and though only Hiei could see it, her face was also bright red.

"One doesn't have to be a mind reader to understand what you're implying," he moved in front of her so as to look her in the eye. Her eyes wanting to look away, yet ensnared when she saw the evil grin which distorted Hiei's face. "I just want to hear you say it." If this had been like an old fashioned cartoon, atomic explosions would have been seen in Botan's wide eyes, for this was the affect of those words. He continued carelessly, "Clearly you enjoyed the small sampling of-"

"You creep!" She hollered, waving her fists around in a mock intimidation. "I don't even know why I bothered to come talk to you," her arms now clamped across her chest as she turned around to begin the babbling tirade back to the hotel, "to think I would have expected some sort of understanding or discretion from you." An indescribably acrid grunt followed. Her eyes weren't even open at this point. Sight wasn't necessary for this particular rant. Hiei observed her with an amused grin, sustained by her humiliation.

"After the finals," Hiei said very smoothly, in a normal tone of voice, not putting out the effort to talk over her fit.

"What?" She stopped marching, but maintained her angry, upturned nose and closed-eyed march.

"After the finals," he repeated in much the same way. Botan now opened her eyes just enough to stare down a tree in front of her as if it was Hiei. "If I'm still alive that is," he said very casually. Botan turned her head enough to look back at Hiei once more. He was still watching her, his own arms crossed. The two of them looked almost like they were about to have an old west-style gun duel.

"It'll have to be a little better planned than that." The sharp edge in her voice was beginning to dull a touch. Hiei blinked a few times in confusion. She turned quickly, looking to confide in him something that would have interested him as well. "Let's just say my working relationship with Koenma will be very awkward for a long time to come because of the recklessness of last time," her voice trailed off as she tried to repress the memory of how Koenma had spotted them while trying to find her. Hiei looked to the ground beside him with a frustrated expression, quickly running through all the scenarios in which he could murder the toddler-teen in order to keep his secret. If there was anything the demon wasn't impervious to, it was that stupid face of Urameshi's when he had some sort of dirt on someone. "Don't worry," she distracted Hiei momentarily from his thoughts which revolved around triumphantly chopping down an infant, "I told him you do that to everyone," she said shrugging casually, her eyelids hung low with apathy. The face that Hiei made next cannot really be described with any language known to mankind. All that can be said about it is that there was a pause, and then Botan exploded in uproarious laughter, exacting her revenge on all of the times he had mentally antagonized her.

Hiei scoffed with relief, a single bead of sweat, either from his training or the suspense of Botan's joke, trailing down the side of his face, "I see you're not entirely without cruelty." And with a smug expression, he turned and resumed his training. Botan watched him for a moment, girlishly distracted by his feverish movements which caused the provocative tightening of all of his visible frame. When she finally shook herself free of this, she headed back to the hotel in perhaps the least horrific parting they had had yet. She wondered if she should tell the other girls about her plans, but considering Yukina was with them, and no sister wants to hear of the base escapades of her brother, she decided against this.

The blue-haired reaper didn't have much time to idle before she realized Koenma was standing up ahead on the path back to the hotel, waiting. She stopped dead in her tracks, taking a nervous gulp, before continuing on with a forced smile which more closely resembled a look someone might have if they were in a hurry to get to the toilet.

*-*-*-*-*-*

On the day of the finals, the hotel lobby was like a ghost town. Everyone had crowded around the stadium, if they hadn't been there for a day or two before. Even the staff was conspicuously absent. A single blue-haired girl was the only sign of life that remained. She sat silently in a plush armchair, staring as if there were an invisible universe right in front of her eyes which obscured the one she was currently existing in. When the elevator finally opened, and team Urameshi emerged, she did not jump up as she would have on any other day. A great tragedy weighed on her conscious. They didn't seem to notice her as she sat in complete silence, waiting for her own group to come join her. As she watched the fighters head out toward the stadium, only one of them paused to look over at her. She sighed as the small man looked over at her, speaking to her without saying a word. She watched his eyes from a distance, looking for some sort of consolation before the man finally bowed his head solemnly, turning away to rejoin his team. She smiled faintly at him, watching him walk out of sight.

When the rest of the girls finally came down, they were all cheerful enough, and Botan tried to be cheerful with them. Only Shizuru noticed the solemnity behind Botan's facade.

*-*-*-*-*-*

At the matches Botan tried to set aside her troubles and focus on the fights. After all, her friends' lives were on the line. She cheered, and booed along with the rest of her group when Karasu was declared winner of his match against Kurama. But she became especially involved when Hiei's match came next, unaware that she was still being observed by Shizuru. She could see, even from such a distance, that Hiei was serious now. He was prepared to kill, and no longer the furtive joker she had seen just days before when speaking of more trivial matters. And despite herself, she giggled when Hiei evaded Bui's initial and futile attempts to do any damage, and flinched distortedly when Bui removed his armor revealing a troubling face underneath.

The crowd chanted for Bui to kill Hiei, and Botan mumbled something to herself about Bui being able to kill regular people with his face alone. But she was once more filled with confidence when Hiei unwrapped his arm. She stared in awe at the ferocity of the black flames. When Bui seemed to have reflected Kokuryuha back onto Hiei, she gasped. Her eyes began to well up, and she grabbed the shoulder of Shizuru in panic. Shizuru continued to observe both Botan and the match as if she were watching a lackluster game show. And when Hiei made a showy comeback, revealing that he had eaten Kokuryuha, Botan squealed out of excitement and relief, and the tears that were once of fear started to trail down her face as she cheered for Hiei to kick Bui's butt.

When Hiei finally petered out of the ring and fainted, Botan shot up out of her seat, looking on nervously. She worried if he hadn't over done it, this fight was probably much more taxing the first round. After looking hesitantly at the other girls, she took off for the ring side as there was an announcement that the tournament would be temporarily postponed. The awkwardness between Botan and Koenma was not even a factor when she finally arrived to see Hiei laying on the ground, "is he..." She looked nervously at Kurama.

"No, just resting," he smiled at her reassuringly. She looked back over at Hiei, finally able to sigh with relief after the teeter-totter of emotions the fight had caused. So this, she thought, is what he looks like while asleep. He looks so at peace. So vulnerable, so... adorable?

"What are you doing?" She scolded suddenly, snatching a permanent marker out of Kuwabara's hand, which was on its way to Hiei's face.

*-*-*-*-*-*

As you all may well have guessed, this story will soon be drawing to a close. But fear not, for I currently have a new fic in the making, so be on the look out for that too... if you enjoy my writing that is. ^^


	15. Satiation, Pt 1

Chapter 15 - Satiation, Pt. I

So funny thing, this finale actually turned out being a lot longer than I anticipated. To avoid an unnecessarily long chapter, I'm going to go ahead and divide it into parts. I'm still in the process of writing part 2, but since I already had part 1 finished I figured I'd go ahead and let you guys have it without having to wait. Beware kiddies, this chapter contains moderately inappropriate content (one of the best kinds of content, in my opinion, second only to "VERY" inappropriate). Music recommendation: No Doubt - Underneath it All, Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar, Spectra Paris - Size Zero

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Botan awoke early in the evening. All of the other girls seemed to be more or less unaffected by the finals, but it had simply tired her out. There was idle talk of perhaps visiting the boys to celebrate the victory, but the sentiment of allowing them all to rest overruled this for the moment. Botan sat at the table she and Atsuko had once taken the steamboat down Whiskey River at. Atsuko sat nearby eyeing her shrewdly, a cigarette coolly hanging from her mouth. Botan blinked at her, just inches away form being creeped out by this odd welcome back to consciousness. "So what about you and Hiei," her cigarette bobbed between her pursed lips as she broke into a grin after bringing this subject up once more, looking for some sort of conclusion.

"Oh, he's such a nice man. He saved my life when the stadium was falling apart." Yukina smiled brightly at mention of her savior.

"Oh, he's a nice man. A _real _nice man, isn't that right Botan?" Her eyes narrowed making her polite veneer all the more exaggerated. Then she removed the cigarette , blowing a cloud of smoke into the air. Atsuko leaned in close to Botan, trying to keep Yukina out of this next comment, "you didn't plan on... after the finals, did you?" her eyebrow was contorted in curiosity. The color in Botan's face vanished.

"What are you talking about?" She laughed nervously, "of course not. I mean, I can't say I have any plans, because I don't even know.. to what... you are referring." She waved her hands in front of her as if to distract Atsuko from whatever it was she was trying to get at. "Maybe if I did know what you were talking about, I could tell you what plans I may or may not have. But I have no idea what you mean." Atsuko simply shifted back in her chair.

"U-huh," she hummed, once more placing her cigarette in her mouth with more of a smug look on her face now. She understood full well what Botan thought she was hiding. Just then, there was a confident knock at the door. All the girls looked around at each other, momentarily puzzled, but it was Keiko who got up to answer. She only opened the door enough to poke her head out, the girls could not see who it was, so they watched her back as she spoke to the person on the other side. She returned, closing the door, with a folded piece of paper in her hands. She looked down at the piece of paper innocently, holding it with both hands, the other girls watching her face. Suddenly, her face contoured into a huge, barred-toothed grin that Yusuke himself would have been proud of, her eyes shooting over to Botan. Botan's eyes grew wide because of how scary this face Keiko made was, and sweat began to accumulate at her temples when she saw Atsuko turning back to give her a similar face.

"Hotel staff, it's for you, _Botan," _She said stiffly through her clenched grin, handing the letter over, trying to stifle any laughter. Botan took the letter slowly, looking over at Atsuko, who was now leaned over the table on her elbows, staring directly into her eyes with frozen sarcasm. Watching Atsuko cautiously, she unfolded the letter, finally turning her eyes down to read it. The was a moment of silence, her eyes scanned over the page, a brief laugh burst from her lips, but she quickly recovered resuming a blank expression.

"So? What's it say?" Atsuko prodded shamelessly.

"Oh, nothing. It's nothing important," Botan, smiling, quickly folding the paper to stuff away in her pocket. Atsuko fell backward from the table, her legs sticking in the air as if she were once more on the bullet train to Margaritaville.

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The sun was setting outside, the sky in eclectic shades of purple and orange for a sun on its way to a powernap. The finale of the tournament had been mere hours before, and a very familiar blue-haired girl casually slipped out of her room into the hallway of the hotel. Anyone just passing her in the hallway might have thought she had something to hide, the way she kept looking back at her room door as if she was expecting the grim reaper to pop out of it. Which of course would have been preposterous.

Stepping out of the elevator, Botan's stomach was swimming, feeling as one who was just pushed from behind and is falling inevitably into a very cold pool. Since when did Hiei go from hating everyone to this? Her eyes scanned over the numbers on the doors. And for the matter, did he know what he was doing? Although he had been very skilled when he... Stopping in front of a single door now, looking around innocently to be sure the coast was clear, she snatched at the doorknob. Sinking backward into the doorway, very carefully, she pulled the door close, tensing her face at the sound of the knob clicking shut.

She sighed with relief, the riskiest part of this venture had gone off without a hitch. No one saw her come here, and Yuusuke hadn't been standing in the hall by chance. Still facing the door, she glanced down at herself and the colorful socks and shorts/tank top combo she wore which made her appear as though she was going on some sort of safari in a stuffed animal jungle. She began backing away from the door finally, turning just in time to see herself running into Hiei. He had been standing there the entire time, watching her "sneak" in, and mentally battle herself.

"Oh, Hiei, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you," She pointed in a nondescript way, stopping when he cocked his head to the side.

"You mean you didn't come here to touch me," Botan grabbed her right arm, face flushing bright red. After all, she had shown up, so there was no denying her intentions at this point.

"No, it's not that," she stopped once again realizing the futility of anything she had to say. Her eyes trailed form his curious eyes, down to his bare chest and stomach, over to a nearby chair where his tunic rested. All these making the reality of the situation more apparent to her.

"I'm curious," his voice dropped deeper, and became more resonating as their eyes finally locked, and he stepped closer to her. "Do you want to try those things you imagined us doing ," barely inches away from her now, trailing his fingertips up her soft arm which clutched the other. His hand now eased around her waist to pull her in slowly so that her arms touched against his chest and he could whisper into her neck. neck, "do you want me to taste you again?" His warm breath wisped along her neck, his words making her shiver.

He leaned in to close what little space was still between them and touch his lips to the downy skin of her neck, his right hand still draped around her waist, fingers contouring the curve. Her eyes relaxed as he placed another deliberate kiss, slow to release it, he just had the faintest flavor of her on his lips. That same salty taste he hadn't been able to resist nights before, which he had craved with monumental self control ever since. His eyes closed now with pacification as his kiss grew deeper, tongue easing from between his lips to caress her skin. She sighed with pleasure, arms finally dropping down from their defensive grasp to welcome Hiei's embrace by resting her hands down on his shoulders.

His kisses moved down, rather than up where he could not reach, touching on her upper chest where her breasts did not quite show above the neckline of her shirt. She sighed once more with a little giggle as he slid his lips along the fine skin, releasing it with the soft sipping sound. His hands now slid under the hem of her shirt, tickling the powdery skin of her tummy as he glided his way up her body, lifting her shirt up as he went. Once the bottom of her shirt reached her chest, Botan grabbed it for him, pulling it off over her head, hair coming loose as she did this. Her immaculate blue hair fell down around her shoulders as she gazed down into Hiei's eyes.

Her defense was broken, and she looked at Hiei not with embarrassment or anger as so many times before. Instead, her eyes now expressed all of the adoration and appreciation that she had denied to this point. His noble deeds, though he pretended to be cruel, his formidable skill and bravery as a fighter which she had watched with ardor. His strength, his dominance. She had released herself fully to expressing her admiration of these things, of him, in the way which now presented its self. Hiei, meanwhile, returned her gaze, drinking in the emotion which radiated in her eyes, her body. The way she had abandoned her ridiculous etiquette to accept him. To touch him, to want him. He wanted her, and had lusted since the night he had first taken but a sampling of what he luscious body had to offer him.

With both hands now on her bare waist, Hiei guided her over toward the nearest bed, which he had apparently taken the time to turn down. Botan fathomed this detail, intrigued by what sort of impure thoughts he must have had about her here, alone, as it occurred to him to do this. She paused to poke an index finger at her bottom lip as she contemplated it. But remembering she was in the middle of something, she reached for the front of her shorts to unfasten them, timidly looking away. Hiei watched carefully, his ruby eyes hungrily catching every detail as she inched them down with a little shimmy until they fell of their own accord. He voyeuristically studied her while she bent over to climb onto the bed. The sight of those supple curves, the scant plumpness in the just right places, and even that silly triangle with a teddy bear print which beckoned him to the treasures it concealed, all these things filled the demon with the most ravenous thoughts he had yet harbored.

Once a satisfactory distance away form the edge, Botan turned to sit on the crisp sheets. While watching Hiei pursue her, the auroral lighting casting shadows to display all of his finely tuned muscles. His eyes were unflinching and intent, she was startled to see the salient protrusion that announced its self from the black folds which still clothed him. She blinked a few times, almost doe-eyed and distracted by this detail, until she heard him chuckle. He was amused by the innocent face she made during the unscrupulous ogling of his obscured piece.

*-*-*-*-*-*

"Hey guys! How does it feel to be champions!" Atsuko burst into the door as soon as Kuwabara opened it. The rest of the girls followed her into the room of Team Urameshi. All except Botan. Which everyone but Kuwabara, who was too busy noticing Yukina, seemed to notice. Yuusuke was apparently the only one obnoxious enough to mention it.

"Hey, where's Botan?" He scratched his temple, recounting them all to make sure she wasn't there. Swearing to himself that they had all been together at one point.

"We're not really sure. She just left our room about twenty minutes ago. She didn't say where she was going, but she was definitely acting weird." Keiko informed.

"Hm, that's strange," Kurama trying to play it down without allowing anything else to slip. They would have all just as soon assumed she had something to take care of in spirit world, had it not been for Kuwabara's next comment.

"Didn't Hiei leave out of here not that long ago, too?" Although he was well meaning, and only making an observation to contribute to the conversation, he unintentionally put 2 and 2 together for everyone else in the room. Except, of course, Yukina and himself, and Kurama, who had figured it out as soon as Keiko said what she did. A strange thing happened just then. A single look was shared by everyone, darting from Keiko to Atsuko, Atsuko to Yusuke, Yusuke to Kurama, and so forth. Perhaps it was out of boredom, lack of anything else to talk about, or perhaps it was just more interesting. Whatever the case, the mysterious absences of both Botan and Hiei became subject for a very interesting conversation of speculation, laughter, and even a bit of underage drinking.

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That about wraps it up for Part 1, so be on the lookout for pt. 2. : P Just a little side thing for those of you commenters, here's something I've been wondering for a while: How many of you actually take up the music recommendations? I think this chapter's is particularly suiting. ^_^


	16. Satiation, Pt 2

Chapter 16 - Satiation, Pt. II

Another word of warning, the content only gets more inappropriate from here on out. Be sure to cover the eyes of any children or pets (including gold fish) in the room. Music recommendation: Sounds From The Ground - Move On, Spectra Paris - Attaque Au Palais Exotica

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Hiei wasted no time nestling himself between Botan's legs as she propped herself up with her arms. His fingers trailed up her inner thigh making her shudder, the tickle of invading fingers. She shrunk away from him abashedly when he pushed up against her and she could feel his hard protrusion, which had grown in just these few moments. Satisfied with the spry admiration of her soft thighs, he eased one arm around the small of her back, still resting a single hand on her leg, pulling her back towards him, forcing her back into his erection. She could feel it playfully rubbing up against her panties, enticing her moist folds which hid beneath them. As Hiei leaned in to kiss her properly for the first time in all of their encounters, she was distracted by his hardened member which ran the length of her folds, unabated, pushing her lips apart to feel it between them.

This feeling continued to draw her attention, even as he skillfully stroked her tongue with his own, releasing her lips, then vehemently seizing them up again to take one taste after another. The salient prodding from his member as he worked his hands up her back to unfasten her bra, she began to embrace this prodding, slowly rocking forward into it, intensifying the rush this gave her. Hiei now had no doubt about her enjoyment, this rush which was accentuated by her intensified breathing as she continued to kiss him. His fingers gave her chill bumps as they gracefully explored her chest. He had felt her breasts before, even tasted the pale skin, the nipples tinted pink like florid rose petals. But this time was different. This time every bit of her that he touched, he did so with every intention of fully violating the innocent flesh. And this time, he knew she liked it by the way she embraced him, offering her salacious body to him, rolling against him in pursuit of more.

Botan's arms slid around Hiei's neck, sighing with passion, sighing with the insatiable need which taunted her as she rocked up against his hard member. Finally he laid her back, her legs still dependant, snuggled against him as a more primal urge took hold, and he grappled with her panties, pulling them down until they were no more. He paused to savor the moment, looking down to see her on her back, innocently looking back up at him. The pink slit which he now observed by dim light, the warmth that emanated from her, the glistening cream which was smeared messily about the sensuous folds. He could smell the salt, the taste of which he was already acquainted. She watched him as his fingers reached for the plump flesh to either side of it, her eyes narrowing with a demure moan as he massaged just outside the sensitive perimeter, denying her the satisfaction of direct contact. As he toyed with her, he watched attentively as he made her start to quiver with the wet, sticky sounds of her bliss. Her back arched and she turned her head away, releasing a slow audible breath, eyelids drooping in euphoria. She could feel herself getting wetter with each circle he made, spreading her lips, then rubbing them together again. His eyes ran back up her body, taking in every detail of it; her mouth which was parted slightly, making way for her heavy breathing, and the way her legs grew further apart, as if begging him for more.

Suddenly he stopped, she couldn't feel him touching her any more, and she felt suddenly unplugged. She opened her eyes with a sigh, almost desperate to see why he had stopped, and she looked down just in time to see his cock springing back to life above the waistband it had just been unleashed from. A grin found its way to her face despite herself when she saw the rigid shaft bobbing up and down. She looked back into his eyes to see him watching her, reading her face as she looked more amused than apprehensive at this final act of exposure which he seemed to be indifferent to.

Once again he lowered himself down, brushing her thigh, looking into her eyes as though he was finally a slave to his impulses. She reached out to caress his face, ensnaring him with her legs when he finally touched down against her. Uninhibited now, his cock nestled between her pussy lips, greedily lapping up her juices when he thrust his hips forward to make his shaft slide up her peach. She moaned aloud, her mouth dropping open, overcome by the sensation of each ridge slowly massaging her sensitive clitoris. She ushered his mouth back to her own, kissing him, arms sliding around his back as he continued to grind freely, soothingly between her legs.

Hiei released a long, slow sigh, releasing Botan's kiss, moving back down to her chest. Feeling his cock sliding between her easier and easier the more she creamed, holding onto her hips as she tried to squirm under his delightfully fluid massaging. He took one of her breasts in his mouth, tenderly suckling her, encircling her nipple with the tip of his tongue. The tickle of this only enhanced Botan's pleasure in Hiei's swollen cock slithering and sliding up and down between her creamy peach. She looked down, her mouth forming a silent "oh," watching him use the tip of his tongue to play with her nipples, making them perk. That slow, explicit crease at his hips which trailed down, hinting towards the piece at the end of it which was buried in her folds, giving her so much insufferable bliss. She moaned once more, overwhelmed by this medley of decadent stimuli Hiei inflicted on her. This was the most unguarded she had seen him, unafraid of expressing himself in this most vulnerable position. She wanted him, she wanted to feel him pulsing inside of her, and she wanted it even more intensely as she rocked against his piece as much as his strong, controlling hands would allow her. Restricting her from hastily indulging in what she so desperately craved.

Drawing in a deep breath, looking down to examine his work, the two pink nipples which perked up while their owner seemed lost in a world of sensation, Hiei examined his own condition. His pre-cum glistened white, smeared along on her reddened divide. Enticed by the prospect of what awaited him, and firmly holding her hips, he leaned over her as she was just coming around to look at him again, her cheeks blushing deep red, eyes glassy when she glanced him with subdued moans escaping her lips. Just as he planted a soft kiss on her hot cheek, which she reveled in with a peaceful smile, it was then that he plunged into her.

She gasped at first, taking in the sting of his member slowly, steadily forcing her apart, her back arching high and touching against his tight body. But then, as he finally finished his first plunge and was pressed up against her with no more length to insert, she let out a very audible cry. Her chest heaved, fingers clenching the sheets trying to disperse the burning pain, but at the same time relishing the feeling his cock gave her as her inner walls gripped around it. Hiei retreated, slowly easing out of her, freeing one of her hips in order to slide an arm behind her arching back, comforting her. And as he went in for another dip, she eased back against this arm which held her fastidiously, once more turning her head to the side trying to bear the painful excitement each filling, throbbing inch gave her. She felt his warm breath on her stomach from the light, soft kisses he planted unabashedly, trying to keep himself from losing complete control. He held fast to her as she moaned, lips lazily tasting the powdery skin, eyes docile as the thrill of Botan's hot, slippery niche made his blood rush. The coaxing grip she had on him, the textured walls screaming as he forced them apart which each pump.

Hiei found his way back up her body, his breath, she noticed, heavier than it had been. He pressed his body down against her, continuing to work his way inside of her, slowly, heartily. Botan's face was burning up, her entire body was hot, and Hiei drank this in like a fine wine, calculating, he indulged in a deep kiss on her exposed neck. She carefully slid her hands up the demon's back, clinging to him, feeling the strength in his body each time he overpowered her with a wanton immersion into her pussy. Each felt like the first, but still she lolled, unable to focus on a single sensation, overwhelmed by the tempestuous fuck she found herself in the throes of.

"Scream," she was dazed, and the word barely registered when he whispered it smoothly in her ear, "scream for me."

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Yeah... this conclusion is turning out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be... Sit tight for Chapter 17, and don't be afraid to leave comments ^^


	17. Oars Aren't Just for Rowing

Chapter 17 - Oars Aren't Just for Rowing

Sorry guys, but the content in this chapter isn't any more appropriate. Music recommendation: Sneaker Pimps - After Every Party I Die, The Commodores - Easy

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Botan's mouth fell open, hair matted against her forehead and very wildly strewn about the pillow she rested her head against. She clenched her teeth, peering up at Hiei with a longing, her face a mask of frantic need. Her skin was burning up against his, the smell of her salt and that succulent crease he pushed his way into hovered all around him, intoxicating him. A stifled groan from the demon, mingling in the air with her ardent cries. An intimate chorus.

Hiei slid his thumb down over her clit, ever careful to maintain the pace at which he fucked her. He eased his thumb the length of the slippery folds around the perimeter of where he watched his reddened cock enter her. Another groan, his ruby eyes scanning her body, then fixing on her breasts, which he took delight in watching the slightest jiggle each time he applied just the right amount of force to her. Slow, rhythmic fucking. He felt his cock begin to weep inside the silken body, as she felt herself expending each time she took him in.

She sat up, a sudden urge to be in control of the penetration, wanting to satisfy her own rhythm. She pressed forward onto Hiei's lap, keeping his cock situated inside of her as she fixed herself in the superior position. Rocking forward, then back, staring down into his eyes before allowing her head to roll back with a moan. She felt his hands furtively sliding around her hips, helping her press even harder against him when she pushed forward, directing her onto his cock. She cried for the release that just seemed to elude her each time she rolled her delightfully spread peach against him.

Her mouth was agape, he grabbed at her ass while she continued to work him, feeling the steady flow of her cream being teased from her by his ridges. Her throat tightened, trying to hold back a moan before looking back down at Hiei. He dedicated himself to following her left breast, attacking her nipple with the tip of his tongue before seizing it just between his lips. She released a long, slow sigh, her thoughts erratic, yet consistently dwelling on the intimate connection she felt with Hiei while she rested her hands on his shoulders.

Botan ran the fingers through Hiei's hair, tousling the sleek spikes, releasing a sigh. He watched her with a tapered grin, enjoying the sight of her squirming, against him with an insatiable hunger. They both tensed, feeling the urge to cum nagging at them each time she pulled away from him. It wouldn't be long now before he would take control again, and see her properly satisfied in this first release...

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After a couple hours of cards, drinking, and a thorough recap of the entire tournament, conversation began to die down in the room of Team Urameshi. Yusuke had long since fallen asleep, and a few of the visitors, as well as Kuwabara, were sprawled about various places in the room. Although talk of Hiei and Botan's absence was ventured back to only a few other times during this soiree, no one dared speak any more on what they were all wondering. All of them wondered except maybe Yukina and Kuwabara who, for the most part, remained oblivious. But as the hour drew late, no sooner than the girls began packing it in for the night, did the door handle to Team Urameshi's room turned. Everyone stopped what they were doing, looking away form their cards and soda cans for their eyes to venture to the door. Those who were just rising up out of their seats slowly sank back down.

It opened at no particular pace, and soon, a very unassuming Hiei stepped through, attentively closing the door behind him. No one spoke a word as all eyes silently watched him saunter over to his spot by the window while these eyes' owners pretended to be doing something else. Kurama felt no need to question the little demon. Between the reported absences, and the length of time Hiei had been gone, he had already deduced the reason for Hiei's late return. Kuwabara and Yusuke, he thought to himself, need not know.

Seeing that no conversation was forthcoming, Atsuko spoke up suddenly with a sense of urgency in the speed at which she spoke, "uh, yeah, well we'd all better be getting back o our room now. See you all later," and with a clumsy, lightly intoxicated stumble, she ran for the door. Keiko had caught on to Atsuko's plan, and ran after her, catching up to her in the doorway, and causing a cluster-fuck as they both tried to push out shoulder-to shoulder. Shizuru plodded after them with cigarette in mouth, and Yukina was the only one who was polite enough to stop and bow, thanking them for the pleasant time.

Hiei showed only a passing entrance towards the raucous exit of the girls, thinking more of his own lingering urges from things unknown to them all. His skin that still smoldered with a glistening lull, and the heartbeat underneath which was just beginning to settle down to a normal rate; all of these were concealed from them. And as he began to return his eyes back to the dark evening outside of the cool window he sat against, they caught sight of Kurama, who looked very keenly at him.

Kurama said nothing, but the accusation was in his eye. Hiei stared back with the same blank expression he often held that always gave his face a child-like quality with the large, innocently sparkling eyes. Kurama laughed in his throat, looking away to a magazine he reached for. Hiei was tempted to return the laugh, but instead looked back out to the window, convinced that the fox was a little too clever.

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"Botan!" Atsuko had yelled through the open doorway, before she had even seen if anyone was in the room. Keiko followed closely behind, nursing a bump on her head that resulted from her and Atsuko finally breaking into an all-out race back to their room.

"Why did you elbow me? You don't have to be so competitive," Keiko yelled at Atsuko, not daring to hit Yusuke's mom. But they both stopped when they finally entered the room. Botan had returned, but she was unavailable for questioning because she had long since fallen asleep. "Darn," Keiko said stamping her foot.

While Botan slept, her dreams were an odd hodgepodge of the time she had spent with Hiei. How long was it before they finally parted ways? Two hours, maybe more, from the time she had fist 'snuck' off of that elevator, and into the room Hiei had gotten separate from the prying eyes of their comrades. The few times she stirred briefly from sleep throughout the night, she could have sworn the entire ordeal had just happened. But she simply rolled over to go back to sleep, thinking of the way he felt pressed against her in some scandalous position, or one of the several orgasms he had treated her to.

These same things were still running rampant in her mind the next morning, when she awoke to the creepy feeling one gets when three people are watching one sleep. "Aiieee!"

"Botan, finally you're awake!" Atsuko cried at a volume Botan was not quite prepared to hear this early in the morning.

"Wha," she groaned, sleep still heavy in her voice whilst flopping an arm over the edge of the bed to try and catch sight of the alarm clock.

"So where were you last night?" Atsuko the leader of this conversations, but the other girls, even Shizuru, sat by with ears hungry for a scoop. Botan paused for a second, using her drowsiness as a cover for the fact she was cursing herself for not thinking of a cover story.

"Uh, Koenma," she finally sat up, "I was with Koenma. There were pressing matters to attend to in Spirit world," she now rolled off her bed, trying to make a break for the bathroom to escape any further interrogation.

"But what about Hiei?" Keiko yelled into the door that was slammed in their faces.

"What about him," Botan poked her head back through the door which she had opened to only head width.

"That's it? All that that happened, and," Keiko paused to spare a glance in Yukina's direction, "nothing happened between you two?" He voice lowered a bit to spare Yukina any unsavory implications.

"Of course, what else would have happened?" A huge smile, as Botan seemed to take on ignorant bliss, once again pulling the bathroom door closed. Keiko continued to look at the bathroom door as if held some answers, disenchanted.

"You know she's lying, right," Shizuru commented casually, walking away from the door.

*-*-*-*-*-*

It was a little bit of luck and little bit of circumstance that spared Botan from uncomfortable questions the rest of that morning. She soon discovered a new confidence in her stride when she made her way down to the boat with the entire Urameshi crew. The atmosphere was one of relief when they watched the island that the accursed tournament had been on sinking into the horizon behind them. Even still, she found herself thinking of the previous evening and an itch started to develop. It started within her thoughts, but soon manifested in her chest, where it spread into a nagging feeling in her gut, and from there it spread further down. At first she couldn't figure out what this odd sensation was, but once it had spread through her body, she recognized it as similar to something she had recently felt for another reason. And as she looked over at Hiei, who leaned against the hand rails, watching her candidly, she realized she wanted more.

"Those kinds of thoughts aren't very becoming of Koenma's lap dog," Hiei grinned devilishly, suddenly interrupting the silence, calling the attention of everyone standing nearby. They all looked at Botan, somewhat shocked, and then over to Hiei. But before any of the spectators could utter a word, Botan appeared next to Hiei, landing a swift blow with her oar to the back of his head. And another swift blow to the back of Yusuke's head, preemptive to the comments which were sure to start spilling from his disturbingly large grin.

"Serves you two right," she said turning her back to Yusuke to look at Hiei, who she greeted back to a standing position holding her supernatural weapon in hand, with a warm smile on her face.

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Well, this concludes Prithee, Fair Botan. Thanks to everyone who read along, I hope you all had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. I'm not quite sure if I'll do a sequel, but for the time being, I have started a new Final Fantasy fic as a consolation prize (among other reasons). So thank you in advance to those of you who are so kind as to not only click my username and the new fic, "Capers," but to read it and leave comments as well... Of course leaving your thoughts on this story doesn't hurt either. : P


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